
Class Bjl*_S 
Book -J 1. 









THE ELEMENTS 



MOEAL SCIENCE. 



BY 

J. L. DAGG, D.D., 

LATE PRESIDENT OF MERCER UNIVERSITY, GA. 



NEW YOKK: 
SHELDON & COMPANY 

CHARLESTON: SOUTHERN BAP. PUBLICATION SOCIETY. 



^18 6 0. 



3*- 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

J. L. DAGG, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States in and for the Southern 
District of Georgia. 



PREFACE. 



In the " Manual of Theology," recently pub- 
lished, the externals of religion are discussed only 
so far as they relate to ceremonies and church 
order. To render that work a complete system 
of divinity, a supplement is needed on Christian 
Morals. But, in the ordinary course of instruc- 
tion, moral philosophy is introduced among the 
studies of college, and receives the attention of 
students who never enter a theological school. 
In agreement with this usage, it has appeared to 
me better, instead of adding a supplement to the 
Manual, to prepare a separate work on morals, 
and adapt it to general use. 

In writing the following pages, I have been 

much indebted to " The Elements of Moral Sci- 

(8) 



IV PREFACE. 

ence," by Dr. "Wayland, which is a work of high 
and deserved reputation. Soon after its publica- 
tion in 1835, it became extensively introduced 
into the schools and colleges throughout the 
country ; and has been justly esteemed the best 
text-book extant on the subject. But, with all 
its excellence, it has imperfections, which twenty- 
four years of critical examination have sufficed 
to discover. It omits some useful subjects ; some 
of its reasonings are obscure and inconclusive; 
and in the following discussions some of its im- 
portant doctrines are controverted, in both theo- 
retical and practical ethics. A work of the same 
general character, but not liable to the same 
objections, has long been desired by many who 
are engaged in the instruction of youth ; and the 
present volume is an humble attempt to supply 
the want. 

A true system of ethics must necessarily refer 
to the Bible, the highest standard of morals. I 
have felt pleasure in making frequent quotations 
from the sacred volume; and have generally 
affixed a reference to the chapter and verse, with 



PREFACE. V 

the hope that the student may be induced to 
read the passages in their connection, and by 
this means acquire increased familiarity with 
the lively oracles of God. The knowledge and 
love of the inspired writings furnish the only 
means on which parents and teachers may rely, 
for producing in the young the grace of a pure 
morality. 



1* 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Definition 13 

CHAPTER I. 

Moral Quality 13 

Sec. 1. In Actions 13 

" 2. In Intentions 17 

" 3. In Desires 22 

" 4. Nature of the Moral Quality 26 

CHAPTER II. 

Moral Obligation „ „ 29 

Sec. 1. Theories Examined ....... 30 

" 2. The True Doctrine 42 

CHAPTER III. 

Moral Faculty 49 

Sec. 1. Its Existence 49 

" 2. Its Offices 55 

" 3. Its Authority 67 

" 4. Its Improvement . .72 

CHAPTER IV. 

Virtue , . 79 

Sec. 1. In General 79 

" 2. In Imperfect Beings ....... 80 

(7) 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Sec. 3. Relation to Habit .' 83 

" 4. Relation to Happiness 85 

" 5. Insufficiency of Conscience to produce Perfect Virtue . 91 

Causes 91 

Consequences 94 

CHAPTER V. 

Knowledge op Duty ...» 97 

Sec. 1. Moral Law 97 

" 2. Connection of Morality with Religion .... 101 

" 3. Natural Religion ' . . 103 

Its Mode of Teaching 103 

Extent of its Teaching Ill 

Its Insufficiency 112 

" 4. Revelation 115 

Its Relation to Natural Religion . . . .115 

The Two Testaments 119 

" 5. Knowledge made effectual by Divine Influence . . 125 

CHAPTER VI. 

General Rules of Conduct 130 

CHAPTER VII. 

Duties to God 135 

Sec. 1, Love and Reverence 135 

" 2. Obedience . 140 

" 3. Gratitude .142 

" 4. Trust 145 

" 5. Repentance 146 

" 6. Resignation 147 

" 7. Habit of Devotion ....... 148 

" 8. Prayer 151 

Its Nature 151 

Its Obligation . . . . . . .154 

Its Utility .157 

" 9. Observance of the Sabbath 164 



CONTENTS. IX 
CHAPTER VIII. 

PAGE 

Duties op Reciprocity 166" 

Sec. 1. Rights .166 

Classification of Rights 173 

" 2. Justice 175 

" 3. Rights of Property 175 

Proof . . 175 

How acquired 177 

How violated 178 

" 4. Seller and Buyer 180 

" 5. Temporary Transfer of Right 183 

Usury 184 

" 6. Service and Agency 185 

" 7. Injury to Character 187 

" 8. Injury to Reputation 194 

Evil Surmising 195 

Evil Speaking 198 

Confidential Communication .... 200 

Convivial Defamation 200 

Libel 201 

" 9. Injustice to Brutes 202 

CHAPTER IX. 

Duties op Benevolence 203 

Sec. 1. Obligation 203 

" 2. Rule 205 

" 3. Physical Benefaction 208 

" 4. Intellectual Benefaction 211 

" 5. Moral Benefaction 214 

" 6. Forgiveness of Injuries 217 

CHAPTER X. 

Duties of Veracity 221 

Sec. 1. Obligation of Veracity 221 

" 2. Promises 224 

" 3. Contracts 226 

" 4. Oaths 227 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XL 

PAGB 

Social Duties in General . 234 

Simple Society 236 

CHAPTER XII. 

Family Duties 239 

Sec. 1. Marriage 239 

Chastity 242 

Polygamy , 244 

Divorce 247 

Incest 248 

" 2. Duties of Husbands 251 

" 3. Duties of Wives 253 

" 4. Duties of Parents 255 

" 5. Duties of Children 261 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Public Duties 265 

Sec. 1. Public Spirit 265 

" 2. Professional Duties 266 

Preacher 266 

Physician i . . 269 

Lawyer . 273 

Teacher 277 

" 3. Civil Society 278 

" 4. Civil Government 283 

Should be just ? . 285 

" 5. Liberty ......... 287 

Religious Liberty 289 

Liberty of Speech, and of the Press . . . 293 

" 6. Duties of Civil Officers 295 

" 7. Duties of Citizens 297 

" 8. Political Oppression 300 

Right of Revolution 301 



CONTENTS. XI 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PAGE 

Duties to Self 803 

Sec. 1. Care of Health 303 

Drunkenness ....... 305 

" 2. Industry and Frugality 308 

" 3. Self-defence 309 

CHAPTER XV. 

Powers of Civil Government 320 

Sec. 1. Modes of Restraint 320 

" 2. Imprisonment 321 

" 3. Capital Punishment 322 

« 4. War 328 

" 5. Slavery 338 

May be necessary 338 

Who must judge 342 

Relation of Master 342 

Duty to Slaves 361 

" 6. Abolitionism 365 

Aim and Tendency 365 

Benevolent Aspect ...... 368 

Mistake ........ 371 



MORAL SCIENCE 



DEFINITION. 

Ethics, Moral Science, or Moral Philosophy, is 
the science which teaches men their duty. It is called 
Moral Philosophy, because it employs similar reasoning 
to that which is used in other departments of phi- 
losophy. 



CHAPTER I. 
MORAL QUALITY. 

SECTION I. IN ACTIONS. 

In teaching men their duty, moral philosophy finds 
it necessary to investigate the moral quality of human 
actions. Some actions are right ; others wrong. Right 
and wrong are called moral qualities. In ascribing these 
qualities to actions, all men concur. This agreement 
of all men does not make out a mathematical demon- 
stration that the moral quality exists in actions : but it 
is such a demonstration as the nature of the case 
admits, and such as we ought to be satisfied with. We 
2 (13) 



14 MORAL QUALITY. 

have no higher demonstration that the sun is bright, or 
that the vegetable world is clothed in green. 

The science investigates the moral quality of human 
actions. 

Action is sometimes predicated of inanimate bodies. 
It is a law of physical philosophy, that, to every 
action of one body upon another, there is an equal and 
contrary reaction. We speak also of chemical action 
and chemical agents. 

But in all the action of matter, whether in masses 
or particles, no one either imagines that he finds the 
moral quality or suspects its existence. Between the 
movements of a stone and of the human body there may 
be an agreement in direction, distance, and velocity ; 
but there can be none with respect to moral quality. 
The movement of the human body may be in violation 
of moral obligation : but the stone cannot violate moral 
law, and no one ever charges it with crime. We never 
attribute the moral quality to any action which does not 
proceed from mind. 

Brutes have minds which manifest their existence 
and qualities in various modes of action ; but we never 
regard a brute as a moral agent. We may be pleased 
with its acts ; but we are conscious that the pleasure 
which we feel is not moral approbation. It may do us 
harm, and, to prevent a repetition of the harm, we may 
intimidate it with blows ; but we never charge it with 
crime, or punish it as a criminal. Between the acts of 
a brute, and those of a moral agent, there may be an 
agreement in many respects ; but not in respect of moral 
quality. A brute may kill its offspring, and a father 
may murder his child ; but the contemplation of the 
father's crime excites in our minds a moral disgust and 
loathing which no one feels towards the brute. 

Why are brutes not moral agents ? They have in- 



IN ACTIONS. 15 

telligence displaying itself, sometimes to our surprise 
and admiration, in the selection and employment of 
suitable means for the accomplishment of their pur- 
poses. If mere intelligence created moral obligation, 
the fox and the elephant would be moral agents to the 
extent of their sagacity. Brutes have desires and 
aversions as well as men ; and their bodies act under 
mental influence, as human muscles move under the in- 
fluence of volition. But something more than intelli- 
gence and will is necessary to constitute moral agency. 
What is that something ? 

We are conscious of moral approbation and disappro- 
bation in the contemplation of virtues and crimes ; but 
we never imagine that these emotions are felt by a 
brute. We feel remorse for crimes committed ; but 
no one suspects that pain of this kind ever tortures 
a brute, even though it may have destroyed its off- 
spring. We feel ourselves impelled to certain actions 
by a sense of moral obligation; but no one supposes 
that brutes ever act under such impulse. In all ages 
and nations a belief has prevailed that there is a God ; 
and that there is a moral government exercised over 
men by which their actions are rewarded or punished ; 
but no one conceives that this belief has ever found 
place for a single moment in the mind of any one of 
the innumerable brute animals that have inhabited the 
earth. We are conscious of a moral constitution in 
our minds, adapting them to moral government, and we 
attribute the like constitution to the minds of our fellow- 
men ; but we never attribute it to the minds of brutes. 
If we could believe that some one brute were endowed 
with a mind of moral constitution, we should regard 
that brute as a moral agent, and call his actions right 
or wrong. It is, therefore, in the moral constitution 
of the human mind that the foundation is laid for human 



16 MORAL QUALITY. 

responsibility. It is this which makes man a moral 
agent, and a proper subject of moral government. 

When a child has performed some act which in other 
persons would be criminal, we may excuse him on the 
plea that he knows no better : and a child may excuse 
a brute on the same plea ; but a philosopher sees a wide 
distinction between the two cases. The brute is not 
only without the knowledge necessary to accountability, 
but without any capacity for receiving it. The child 
may be taught that the act is criminal ; but the brute 
cannot be taught to make moral distinctions. 

If it be asked, what is a moral action ? the answer 
is, an action which is either right or wrong. If it be 
asked, by whom may a moral action be performed ? the 
answer is, by an agent capable of distinguishing between 
right and wrong. 

The moral quality belongs to human conduct through- 
out its whole course ; and may be detected in omissions 
to act, as well as in positive actions. 

As moral agents, we are bound to employ the active 
powers with which we are endowed, in doing good. We 
are not at liberty to waste our days in idleness ; and to 
neglect any opportunity of doing good is to do wrong. 
Hence moralists enumerate sins of omission, as well as 
sins of commission. In the latter we do what God 
forbids ; in the former we neglect to do what he com- 
mands. In reviewing our actions and judging of their 
criminality, it is not enough to estimate the amount of 
positive injury which we have inflicted. Every oppor- 
tunity of serving God or benefiting men ought to be 
taken into the account ; and if we have suffered any 
opportunity to pass unimproved, the failure stands 
justly chargeable against us. What a fearful reckon- 
ing, then, awaits us at the last day ! We must give 
account not only for every idle word, but also for every 



IN ACTIONS. 17 

idle moment in which we have failed to fulfil our moral 
obligations. 

Our actions are complex, and we cannot affirm that 
every part of them contains in itself the moral element. 
We may extend the hand to inflict an injurious blow 
on a fellow-man ; or we may extend it to avert an in- 
jurious blow aimed at him by another. The mere 
extension of the hand in these cases has no other 
moral quality than that which it derives from the com- 
plex action of which it is a part ; that is, it has no 
moral quality in itself. Actions which do not contain 
the moral element in themselves, are called indifferent. 
Though performed by a moral agent, we cannot affirm 
that such an action is either right or wrong ; but moral 
agents are responsible for every such action, because 
it ought to be performed to some good purpose. Hence 
moral obligation extends over every deed, as well as 
every moment of life ; and this is clearly the doctrine 
of the Holy Scriptures: "Whether ye eat, or drink, 
or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 

Though intelligence and will are not sufficient of 
themselves to constitute a moral agent, they are never- 
theless necessary to moral action. The action of a 
machine is not moral, because a machine acts without 
intelligence and volition. Moral actions proceed from 
mind and not from mere matter ; and to understand the 
morality of actions we must view them in connection 
with the mind in which they originate. This connec- 
tion will be traced in the following section. 

SECTION II. IN INTENTIONS. 

We sometimes intend acts which we never perform ; 
and, at other times, perform acts which we never in- 

^Cor. x. 31. 

2* 



18 MORAL QUALITY. 

tended. In these cases the moral quality exists in the 
intention, and not in the outward action. The nature 
and propriety of this distinction may be easily illus- 
trated. 

A father sees a wild beast about to leap on his child ; 
and, in attempting to shoot the ferocious animal, the 
bursting of his gun kills the child. Is this father 
guilty of murder? The unanimous verdict of mankind 
will acquit him. Why ? Because the killing of the 
child was not intended. 

An assassin stabs with intent to kill ; but, failing to 
apply to his dagger the force necessary to take life, he 
merely opens an internal abscess, and, by this means, 
prolongs the life which it was his purpose to destroy. 
How is the morality of his deed to be estimated ? Not 
by the good which he effects, but by the evil which he 
intended. No one doubts that the Searcher of hearts 
holds him guilty of murder. 

In the cases which have been supposed, the result 
of the action is entirely different from the intention of 
the agent. In other cases which may frequently occur, 
the result and the intention agree in part and differ in 
part. A man who labors to extricate a whole family 
from their burning habitation, may succeed in saving a 
part of them only. A man who aims to take the life 
of a neighbor whom he hates, may fail of effecting his 
full intent, but may inflict lasting injury to his person. 
In all such cases, the measure of the morality is found 
in the intention, and not in the partial effect produced. 
If the kindness of a friend does not confer on us all 
the benefit which he designed, our gratitude to him is 
measured, not by the good actually received, but by the 
good intended. 

In every case which can be supposed, we may observe 
that we estimate the morality of an action by the in- 



IN INTENTIONS. 19 

tention of the agent. If his purpose is exactly accom- 
plished, it is a matter of indifference whether we make 
up our judgment from the intention or from the result ; 
but whenever these differ from each other, we always 
make the intention the ground of our judgment. 
Hence, by the common consent of mankind, the moral 
quality of an action resides in the intention. 

Intention implies an exercise of the will. If we act 
from compulsion, the action is not intended by us, and 
is not properly our own. Moral agency must be volun- 
tary agency. 

Intention implies an exercise of intellect. We dis- 
tinguish between actions which are intended and actions 
which are accidental ; and the necessity for this dis- 
tinction arises from the absence of perfect intelligence 
in the agent. To a being of perfect intelligence, no 
accidents can happen ; and to a being acting without 
intelligence, everything happens as by accident. Hence, 
intelligence is necessary to intention, and therefore to 
moral agency. It is necessary, for the additional 
reason, that an agent destitute of intelligence, must be 
incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong. 

A moral agent is bound to exercise the intelligence 
which he possesses. At this point his responsibility 
may extend beyond the limits of his intention. For an 
act intended, he is responsible ; and the morality of 
that act exists in the intention. 

But accidental actions also have their responsibility, 
when they arise from criminal carelessness in the agent. 
He who throws a stone into a crowd, may destroy life 
without intending it ; but he is justly chargeable with 
the consequences which he ought to have foreseen. 

The distinction between sins of omission and of com- 
mission, is applicable to intentions, as well as to overt 
actions. It is not enough that we intend no evil to our 



20 MORAL QUALITY. 

fellow-men. If we pass our lives in self-indulgence, 
indifferent to the interests and well-being of others, we 
are guilty of wrong ; and that wrong becomes greatly 
aggravated if our self-indulgence produces mischief to 
others. The seducer seeks his own gratification, with- 
out intending mischief to the victim of his seduction ; 
but he is held responsible by the verdict of mankind 
for the ruin of reputation and happiness which ensues : 
and this responsibility he must meet at the last tri- 
bunal. 

The doctrine that the moral quality of an action 
resides in the intention of the agent, is liable to be 
misapplied through an ambiguity in the use of the word 
intention. Besides the outward action, in the perform- 
ance of which the body is concerned, we may distinguish 
in the operations of the mind concerning it — 1. The 
conception of the act ; 2. The resolution to perform 
it ; and 3. The purpose for which it is performed. The 
last of these is frequently called the intention; and the 
doctrine has been maintained, that the moral quality 
of the action resides in it ; that is, in the intention with 
which the action is performed. The argument in sup- 
port of this opinion, may be stated thus : — 

Argument. — The moral quality does not belong to 
the external act ; for the same external act may be pre- 
formed by two men, while its moral character is, in the 
two cases, entirely dissimilar. Nor does it belong to 
the conception, nor to the resolution to carry that con- 
ception into effect; for these can have no other character 
than that of the action itself. It must, then, reside in 
the intention. 

This argument is fallacious, because the principle 
assumed at the outset, that " the moral quality does not 
belong to the external act," is not universally true. 
It cannot be true of any but indifferent actions. If A. 
gives money to relieve a family in distress, and B. gives 



IN INTENTIONS. 21 

money to procure the murder of a friend, the act of 
giving money derives its moral quality from the inten- 
tion with which it is performed, because it has no moral 
quality in itself. But if A. steals money to relieve a 
family in distress, and B. steals money to procure the 
murder of a friend, the act of stealing money does not 
derive its moral quality from the intention with which 
it is done, because it has a moral quality of its own. 
Its criminality is greatly aggravated when it is per- 
formed with murderous intent ; but it does not become 
virtuous when performed with benevolent design. The 
doctrine that the end sanctifies the means, is inconsist- 
ent with sound morality ; yet this doctrine is clearly 
deducible from the argument. 

Should an attempt be made to sustain the argument 
by alleging, that when it denies the existence of moral 
quality in the external act, it contemplates that act 
merely as so much muscular motion, in which, considered 
in itself, there can be neither virtue nor vice, — we admit 
the premise in this interpretation of it, but we main- 
tain that the inference which the argument draws from 
it is not in this case legitimate, namely, that the con- 
ception of the act and the resolution to perform it, 
" can have no other character than that of the act 
itself." The conception and resolution belong to the 
mind, and the premise, that moral quality does not 
belong to matter, will not furnish ground for the conclu- 
sion, that moral quality does not belong to mind. 

In the analysis of an act, the purpose for which it is 
performed is not properly an element of the act con- 
sidered in itself. The purpose respects the end to be 
accomplished, and belongs to the accomplishment of that 
end as an ulterior action. The act of giving money is 
complete in itself, whether performed with benevolent 
or murderous intention, and the purpose for which it is 



22 MORAL QUALITY. 

performed, is properly an element in the virtuous or 
criminal action to which the other is made subservient. 
The doctrine which we are examining, pushes the moral 
quality out of the particular act which we analyze, and 
refers it to an ulterior action. If we pursue it, and 
attempt the analysis of this ulterior action, the doctrine 
meets us again, and pushes the moral quality into some- 
thing which is still beyond. Thus it proceeds from link 
to link along the chain of means and ends, until it has 
pushed the moral quality out of all human action. 

To affirm that the resolution to perform a moral action 
has no moral quality in it, is to contradict the common 
sense of mankind. The resolution to perform is the 
intention to perform ; and we have seen that the inten- 
tion to perform possesses the moral quality, even when 
the act is never consummated. 

The distinction between the intention to do an act 
and the intention with which it is done, must be care- 
fully observed, lest we misapply the doctrine that the 
moral quality resides in the intention. 

The moral quality of an action, which is right or 
wrong, resides in the intention of the agent, that is, in 
his intention to do the act. For actions, which are in 
themselves indifferent, the agent is held responsible 
according to the intention with which they are done. 
This intention, which is merely a concomitant of the 
indifferent action, is an element of the ulterior action. 
It is the intention of doing that action, and contains its 
moral quality. 

SECTION III. IN DESIRES. 

We have seen that the moral quality may be found 
in the intention of an agent, even when that intention 
is never executed ; and that it is not in the outward 
act considered apart from the intention. In every case 



IN DESIRES. 23 

right and wrong are, properly speaking, qualities of 
mental and not of material actions. 

When we have ascertained that the moral quality 
resides in the mind, and have detected its existence in 
the intentions, the inquiry is suggested whether it exists 
also in other affections or operations of the mind. 

What a man intends to accomplish he desires to 
accomplish. Intention is commonly the result of deli- 
beration. During the deliberation, conflicting desires 
struggle within for predominance ; and by their conflict 
the mind is held in suspense. When the decision has 
been made, and an action has been resolved on, that 
action is prompted by the prevailing desire which, in 
its victory over the rest, assumes the form of intention. 
In this form we have seen that it contains the moral 
quality. But is this quality confined to the desires 
which prevail ? 

If a man intends murder, but fails of his purpose 
because his weapon disappoints him, we hold him guilty 
of the murder intended. If, in approaching his in- 
tended victim, he finds him armed for self-defence, and 
abandons his purpose merely through fear of losing 
his own life, he is still guilty of murder. But let us 
suppose that, when the desire of taking life was urging 
him, he foresaw the risk with which the gratification 
of this desire would be attended, and feared to attempt 
the deed ; is the desire of murder innocent because the 
desire of self-preservation prevailed over it? No one 
so judges. We attribute moral quality to desire, as 
well as to intention ; and in this we have the concur- 
rence of the Holy Scriptures. The tenth command- 
ment, "Thou shalt not covet," forbids wrong desire, 
and does not wait until the desire has ripened into the 
intention of seizing by violence the thing desired ; but 
it takes cognisance of the desire at its very origin, and 



24 MORAL QUALITY. 

finds the moral quality in it, even when unattended with 
any hope of gratification. The lusts which are so much 
condemned in the inspired Word are evil desires in 
which sinful actions originate. « When lust hath con- 
ceived, it bringeth forth sin." 1 "From whence come 
wars and fightings among you ? Come they not hence, 
even of your lusts that war in your members ? Ye lust, 
and have not; ye kill, and desire to have." 2 

Men are prone, in judging themselves, to examine 
their external actions only ; or, at most, their fully 
formed intentions. With this partial self-examination, 
Paul for a time was satisfied, and thought himself 
blameless : but when the commandment came, searching 
the depths of his heart, his judgment respecting him- 
self was completely changed. The process of discovery 
he has described in these words : — " I had not known 
sin, but by the law, for I had not known lust, except 
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." 3 

By the light of the holy law, shining into his heart, 
he saw the moral quality of sinful desire, and learned 
his depravity. The teachings of moral philosophy on 
this point coincide perfectly with those of revelation. 

Desires are wrong, when their objects are unlawful. 
Such are the objects enumerated in the tenth command- 
ment : " Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, 
thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man 
servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, 
nor anything that is thy neighbor's." 4 It is unlawful 
to possess the things belonging to our neighbor ; and, 
therefore, it is unlawful to desire them. So it is in 
every case, where the objects of desire are unlawful. 

Desire is wrong, when the degree of it is inordinate. 
We ought to desire the favor and enjoyment of God 

1 James i. 15. 2 James iv. 1, 2. 3 Rom. vii. 7. *Ex. xx. 17. 



IN DESIRES. 25 

above everything else. The pious man, in the holiest 
breathings of his soul, can exclaim, " Whom have 
I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth 
that I desire besides thee." 1 To this supreme desire 
after God, every other desire should be subordi- 
nated. But men are lovers of pleasure, more than 
lovers of God ; and it is not necessary that the plea- 
sure should be unlawful, to render the inordinate desire 
sinful. In order to perfect rectitude, every action 
must conform perfectly to the rule of right ; and so 
must, also, every desire, in respect both of its object 
and of its intensity. Who that duly considers this, 
can reject the doctrine of human depravity, or deny 
that the heart of man is desperately wicked ? 

The mere conception of an action does not contain 
the moral quality. The mind of Jesus, when tempted 
by Satan, had a conception of the sinful deeds which 
the tempter proposed ; but this conception was without 
sin. No desire to commit a sinful act, or enjoy a sin- 
ful indulgence, ever found a momentary residence in 
his soul. But in a corrupt mind, the conception of sin- 
ful deeds is attended with unholy desires, which enter- 
tain the conception, and use it unlawfully. In the 
secret chambers of the soul the imagination feasts on 
forbidden indulgence, and perpetrates deeds unfit for 
human eyes. But God sees them, and will bring them 
into judgment. In these dark caverns of thought men 
learn to be villains, and practise their deeds of atrocity 
before they acquire hardihood to act out, in the view 
of mankind, the wickedness to which they have secretly 
trained themselves. Let every one who would avoid 
sin, purify his imagination. 

1 Ps. lxxiii. 25. 



26 M R A L Q U A L I T Y. 



SECTION IV. NATURE OF THE MORAL 
QUALITY. 

When we inquire into the nature of the moral 
quality, it is important to distinguish between the 
quality itself, and our notions respecting it. Metaphy- 
sicians have been perplexed with the question, How do 
we obtain a knowledge of the external world ? Ordi- 
nary men, who have never heard of this question, 
firmly believe that a world exists around them, and 
inquire into the nature and operations of surrounding 
objects, with as much success as if they had fully de- 
cided this puzzling question of mental science. Of 
like character is the question, Whence do we derive 
our notion of the moral quality ? Men who have never 
thought of this inquiry, meet, examine, and decide 
questions of duty, without any reference to it ; and, for 
aught that appears, the system of moral science might 
be complete, if this question respecting the operations 
of the mind were for ever undecided. Moral philosophy 
investigates the nature of the moral quality ; but our 
notion respecting the quality, is a subject which falls 
properly under the examination of the mental phi- 
losopher. 

The investigations of natural philosophy would be 
greatly hindered, if they were directed, not to the 
objects around us, but to our notions respecting them. 
If driven from the world without us to the world within 
us, the science would be involved in darkness, and its 
deductions respecting the relations of physical sub- 
stances and events would abound with error. The rela- 
tions of our notions are not identical with the relations 
of the things known. A spark produces an explosion; 
but our knowledge of a spark does not produce our 
knowledge of an explosion. A similar liability to error 



NATURE OF THE MORAL QUALITY. 27 

attends the methods of investigation which have some- 
times been adopted in moral philosophy. The relations 
between our mental conceptions of moral things, have 
been mistaken for relations between the things them- 
selves ; and conclusions respecting the latter have been 
drawn from premises which respect the former. 

Our first notions of right and wrong, and of moral 
obligation, are derived from consciousness ; but the 
things themselves exist apart from all our notions 
respecting them. So the planetary world and all its 
movements would exist, if there were no astronomers 
to observe these movements, and investigate the laws 
by which they are governed. In this objective view we 
must answer the inquiry respecting the nature of the 
moral quality. 

Our minds are so constituted that we are conscious 
of approving some actions and disapproving others. The 
approved actions we call right ; and the disapproved 
wrong. 

Though we derive our elementary moral ideas from 
consciousness, it is nevertheless true, that consciousness 
does not give us a perfect knowledge of right and wrong. 
We sometimes approve what subsequent reflection con- 
vinces us is wrong ; and we thus learn that the distinc- 
tion between right and wrong is independent of our 
feelings. The foundation of the distinction will be 
examined in the chapter on Moral Obligation. The 
existence of moral obligation being admitted, the mean- 
ing of the terms right and wrong becomes determined, 
and the nature of the moral quality may be contem- 
plated as an objective reality. 

An action is right, when it fulfils the obligations of the 
agent; and wrong, when it violates them. In this state- 
ment the action is contemplated apart from the moral 
approbation or disapprobation which it excites in our 



28 MORAL QUALITY. 

minds. What has been said of actions is equally true 
of intentions and desires. They are all right or wrong 
as they agree or disagree with the obligations of the 
agent. The moral quality in every case consists in 
agreement or disagreement with moral obligation. 



CHAPTER II. 
MORAL OBLIGATION. 

Moral obligation is expressed in common language 
by the words ought and duty. To say that we ought to 
tell the truth, or that it is our duty to tell the truth, is 
to say that we are under moral obligation to tell the 
truth. Such words as ought and duty are found in all 
languages ; and therefore the men who speak these 
languages have the ideas which the words express; 
since, were it otherwise, the words would be as unmean- 
ing as the names of colors are to men born blind. As 
men of all languages have the idea of moral obligation,' 
either moral obligation exists or nature deceives all man- 
kind. 

Our inquiry into the nature of the moral quality, 
brought us to the conclusion, that an action is right 
when it conforms to the obligations of the agent, and 
wrong when it violates them. To pursue our investiga- 
tions, we must next inquire into the nature and ground 
of moral obligation. Moral obligation and the distinc- 
tion between right and wrong have an intimate connec- 
tion with each other ; but if we stop at the present stage 
of our investigation, it will not be clear whether an 
action is right because it is obligatory, or is obligatory 
because it is right ; and the nature both of rectitude and 
obligation will be very imperfectly understood. 

Respecting the nature and ground of moral obliga- 
tion, and of the distinction between right and wrong, 
various theories have been advanced, which it will be 
useful to examine. 

3 * ' (29) 



30 MORAL OBLIGATION. 

SECTION I. THEORIES EXAMINED. 

Theory 1. Nature impels every man to seek his own 
happiness, and the innate tendency demonstrates that 
happiness is the end of his being. Hence self-love, 
which prompts each man to seek his own happiness, is 
the proper motive of human conduct. The desire of 
present pleasure may be gratified at the expense of our 
future good ; and hence self-love, which seeks our happi- 
ness on the whole, may forbid the present gratification. 
This restraint on appetites and passions which call for 
present indulgence, is moral obligation. He who so acts 
as to promote his own happiness in the highest degree, 
acts virtuously, and deserves praise. In estimating our 
happiness on the whole, we must take our future immor- 
tality into the account ; and in obeying God, or doing good 
to men, the proper motive of our actions, is the desire 
of future happiness. In human society individuals are 
so related to each other, and so dependent on each other, 
that each one in seeking his own happiness, is compelled 
to promote the happiness of others. Hence self-love 
requires the exercise of the social affections, and obtains 
pleasure from the exercise. Moreover, some actions are 
reviewed with pleasurable self-approbation, and others 
with painful remorse; and self-love takes the conse- 
quences of actions into the account, in determining what 
actions are right. If every individual would diligently 
and wisely seek his own happiness, the highest happiness 
of each would be attained, and the aggregate of happi- 
ness in the world would be the greatest possible. Hence 
self-love tends to the general good. 

If we would learn the proper end of man's being, 
and the proper motive of his actions, from the ten- 
dencies observable in his nature, we ought to draw our 
knowledge, not from a single tendency, but from his 
entire nature. The theory under consideration fixes on 
the single tendency to the seeking of happiness; and 
from this draws all its conclusions. But there are 
other tendencies which equally claim our consideration, 



THEORIES EXAMINED. 31 

and which must be taken into the account if we would 
judge correctly concerning the end for which man 
exists, and to the accomplishment of which his actions 
should be directed. He who sympathizes with a friend 
in affliction does not sympathize for the sake of his own 
happiness. The mother who denies herself every com- 
fort, that she may watch at the cradle of her sick 
infant, and who weeps with broken heart when death 
has taken it from her, does not watch and weep for the 
sake of her own happiness. When we review a past 
action with remorse, we do not make the review, or 
indulge the painful emotion which it produces, for the 
sake of our own happiness. If happiness is the only 
end of man, why do sympathy, maternal affection, and 
remorse give pain ; or why is the human heart capable 
of these affections? 

To satisfy the tendencies of our nature, and to gra- 
tify our desire of pleasure, are things which every care- 
ful observer may readily learn to distinguish. The 
appetite for food is a natural tendency on which life 
depends. The benevolence of the Creator has made 
the satisfying of this tendency a source of pleasure. 
We may satisfy the demands of appetite by eating food 
which gives very little pleasure to the taste ; and we 
may eat for the sake of pleasure when the demands of 
appetite have ceased. Our happiness is the aggregate 
of our pleasures ; but if our good, or the end for which 
we exist, be the satisfaction of all the tendencies in 
our nature, it is clear that happiness is only a part of 
that good. Hence the theory errs in reasoning from a 
part as if it were the whole. 

When two tendencies of our nature come into con- 
flict with each other, how shall it be decided which of 
them is under moral obligation to yield ? Ought the 
mother to satisfy the demands of maternal affection by 



32 MORAL OBLIGATION. 

painful attendance on her sick infant ; or ought she to 
neglect it for the pleasure of a banquet ? There is in 
human nature a tendency to decide this question, as 
every mother will decide it, who is not without natural 
affection ; and this tendency the theory overlooks. 
The moral judgments of mankind are not formed by 
its rule. It assumes that the desire of happiness, on 
the whole, ought to prevail over the desire of present 
gratification ; but the assumption is arbitrary, if we 
judge merely from a comparison of the two impulses. 
The assumption chances to be right in this case : but 
because self-love ought to control the desire of present 
gratification, it does not follow that it ought to govern 
every other impulse and tendency of our nature. 

We know that hunger tends to personal good, by 
driving men to obtain sustenance for the body ; and we 
know, with equal certainty, that there are impulses in 
our nature w T hich tend to the good of others. We are 
formed for society ; and we have tendencies manifestly 
directed to the good of society. Our philosophy is 
false to nature when it assumes that every man ought 
to live for himself. The theory, therefore, errs : first, 
in making all good consist in happiness ; and secondly, 
in making the good which every individual ought to 
seek personal. 

The theory contradicts the moral judgments of man- 
kind. All the world reprobate the man who seeks to 
promote his own happiness by cruelty, fraud, and false- 
hood : but the theory justifies him. It may indeed 
admit that he adopts an unwise method to promote his 
happiness, because it will fail to attain the end which 
he seeks : but what the theory condemns, is, not the 
motive, but the mistaken judgment. The selfish motive 
it justifies ; and the cruelty, fraud, and falsehood it 
would justify, if these could promote the man's happi- 



THEOKIES EXAMINED. 33 

ness : but the moral judgments of mankind decide 
against the theory. 

If it be said that conscience will not permit us to be 
happy in the practice of cruelty, falsehood, and fraud, 
and that self-love, aware of this, avoids these practices 
so inconsistent with our internal peace, it is clearly 
admitted that conscience is a higher principle of our 
nature, to the decisions of which our self-love is com- 
pelled to yield. 

The doctrine that the happiness of all beings is best 
promoted, when each seeks directly to promote his own, 
is fallacious. If the happiness of each grew up entirely 
from within himself, it might be that the aggregate of 
happiness would be greatest when each cultivated 
exclusively the nearest spot ; but our enjoyments come 
in great measure from without ; and, in dividing the 
means of enjoyment, the theory justifies every man in 
seizing the most that he can. It puts every indi- 
vidual in conflict with every other ; and makes war the 
natural state of society. A universe of beings at war 
each with every other, and a universe of beings who 
love each other as they love themselves — in which of 
these shall we look for the greatest amount of happi- 
ness ? To secure the greatest happiness of a whole life, 
the impulse which seeks the highest enjoyment of each 
moment, needs restraint ; and equally to secure the 
highest happiness of the world, the impulse which seeks 
the highest happiness of each individual, must be in 
subjection. The theory admits the former necessity, 
but overlooks the latter. 

Since supreme self-love does not obtain the approba- 
tion of men, much less can it secure the favor of God. 
A man may pray, " Let me die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like his;" but the 
mere desire of future happiness, however intense and 



34 MORAL OBLIGATION. 

active, will not suffice. God is not obeyed by morality 
which proceeds from no higher motive. 

Theory 2. — The perception of external things is fre- 
quently followed by vivid feelings in the perceiving 
mind, which are called emotions — such as sorrow, hope, 
fear, desire, aversion, &c. These emotions are not 
qualities of the external object ; and they give us no 
other knowledge of it, than that it is capable, when per- 
ceived, of exciting the mental emotion. By conscious- 
ness, we have knowledge of our emotions, and are able 
to classify them. One class, distinct from all others, 
consists of approbation in the view of right actions, and 
disapprobation in the view of wrong actions. These 
emotions give us our only notion of the moral quality in 
actions. As sugar is sweet, because of the peculiar 
sensation which it produces, so actions are right, because 
of the peculiar emotion which they excite. 

The error of this theory is, that it regards the 
moral quality as merely relative to the mind in which 
it excites approbation or disapprobation. To determine 
whether sugar is sweet, we do not employ a process of 
reasoning, or apply chemical tests ; but we judge by 
the taste — and from the taste there is no appeal. But 
in judging of the moral quality, men reason, and com- 
pare the action with some rule of duty, some concep- 
tion which their minds entertain of moral obligation in 
general, and of the agent's obligation in particular. 
As all men proceed thus, when they carefully investi- 
gate the moral quality of actions, we have the common- 
sense verdict of all men against the opinion, that the 
moral quality is merely relative to the moral taste of 
each individual. 

If morality is dependent on the moral taste of each 
individual, it can have no fixed principles ; and it would 
be possible for right and wrong wholly to interchange 
places, in systems of morality adapted to different beings, 
just as food is delicious to some animals, which is loath- 



THEORIES EXAMINED. 35 

some to others. It would be possible for a race of crea- 
tures to exist, among whom lying, fraud, cruelty, and 
blasphemy would be eminent virtues ; and their oppo- 
sites, detestable vices. Important differences of opinion 
respecting the morality of actions, actually exist among 
men ; and, according to the theory, each opinion is 
equally good. What one man approves, another disap- 
proves ; and the judgment of each is correct, because 
it conforms to the proper standard, the peculiar taste 
of each. 

Men are generally agreed that sugar is sweet, and 
wormwood bitter ; but if any individual should so differ 
from the rest of mankind, as to think otherwise, he 
would be left to his peculiarity undisturbed. But if 
some individual in human society should think it right 
to steal and commit murder, public opinion and the 
laws would judge of his conduct, not by his peculiar 
moral taste, but by fixed principles which they recog- 
nise. 

Improvement and deterioration in virtue, are uni- 
versally admitted to be possible. The moral taste of 
some men becomes greatly refined : they discriminate 
between right and wrong with greater promptness and 
accuracy ; and learn to correct erroneous judgments 
previously formed. On the other hand, some men be- 
come so hardened in vice, as to be almost incapable of 
moral feeling. But, according to the theory, in all this 
progress, whether upward or downward, the standard 
of right varies with the state of the mind, and rises or 
falls with the ascent or descent of the individual. The 
virtuous man does not really become more virtuous ; 
and the moral judgment which he. has changed, was 
right before it was changed — and is now equally right, 
though it has been reversed. The vicious man, in like 
manner, does not become really more vicious, if his 



36 MORAL OBLIGATION. 

moral taste lowers with his downward progress ; and 
when he ceases to disapprove vice, he becomes per- 
fectly virtuous. 

Theory 3. — The moral quality is an elementary pro- 
perty which the mind intuitively perceives in actions, 
as the eye sees colors. Being elementary, it cannot be 
reduced to other more general properties, and cannot be 
defined except by describing the circumstances in which 
it may be observed. The color green may be pleasant 
and useful to the eyes, but pleasure and utility are not 
greenness itself. So the moral quality of a good action 
may excite the pleasurable emotion of approbation, and 
may otherwise promote happiness, but these effects do 
not constitute the quality itself, or adequately describe 
it. If asked what green is, we tell the inquirer where 
he may see it, and our labor of instruction is ended. If 
asked what moral rectitude is, we refer the inquirer to 
the actions which contain the quality. He may there 
see it for himself, and be as fully assured of its existence 
as he is that the colors exist which his eyes behold ; but 
except by direct intuition, the knowledge of it is impos- 
sible. 

The advocates of this theory differ among themselves, 
with respect to the mental faculty by which the moral 
quality is immediately perceived. Some suppose that 
it is perceived by an intuitive act of reason ; others, 
that it is perceived by a peculiar sense which they call 
the moral sense. To the latter opinion it has been 
objected, that it makes the moral quality relative to the 
sense, and therefore involves all the difficulties and 
absurdities chargeable on the last theory ; but this 
objection is not necessarily applicable. Our senses give 
us what knowledge we possess of absolute as well as of 
relative properties in external objects; and it will not 
follow, if we obtain our knowledge of the moral quality 
by a sense, that the quality itself is merely relative to 
that sense. We shall therefore understand the present 



THEORIES EXAMINED. 37 

theory to admit fully the absolute existence of the moral 
quality. 

An objection fatal to the theory is, that it allows no 
place for reasoning in the ascertainment of duty. Per- 
plexing cases of conscience often cost us laborious 
study ; controversies respecting right give occasion for 
tedious litigations ; the discussions of courts and legis- 
latures to determine the right, call forth the utmost 
efforts of the ablest logicians ; and volumes have been 
written on law and moral science ; but all this is a use- 
less waste of mental energy if the moral quality is 
immediately perceived by intuition. Such labor is never 
employed to convince ourselves or others, that grass is 
green ; or to settle a controversy on the question 
whether it is green or blue. Moreover, if moral know- 
ledge is by intuition, ignorant and savage men possess 
it, and may decide moral problems with as much readi- 
ness and success as the learned and civilized ; and high 
moral cultivation is impossible. A doctrine which 
renders improvement in moral science impossible, and 
annihilates the science itself, must be rejected. 

An opinion bearing some analogy to the theory under 
consideration, supposes that intellect discovers to us our 
various relations to other beings ; that the moral sense 
intuitively perceives the obligations corresponding to 
these relations ; and that intellect again comes in to 
determine what actions are necessary to fulfil the obli- 
gations. But this opinion subverts the essential part 
of the theory, by denying that the moral quality is 
intuitively perceived in the actions. Under the erring 
guidance of reason, we may attempt to fulfil an obligation 
by a wrong action, which therefore appears to us right ; 
and hence the moral quality is not intuitively perceived. 
Moreover, if reason should err in the discovery of our 
relations, the obligations which we perceive are not 
4 



38 MORAL OBLIGATION. 

those which really exist, and the actions which fulfil them 
are not our true duty. Furthermore, the mere know- 
ledge of our relation to an individual is not all that is 
necessary to determine our obligations to him. Paul 
teaches children to obey their parents, not merely 
because of the relation subsisting between them, but 
because it is "well pleasing unto the Lord." 1 And he 
exhorts servants to obey their masters, not merely 
because of the relation, but "that the name of God and 
his doctrine be not blasphemed." 2 We act under ever- 
abiding relations to the universe of beings, and from 
every action consequences may emanate of boundless 
influence. All the relations and consequences must be 
in full view, in order to a perfect knowledge of our 
obligations. How little, then, of this knowledge is 
obtained by mere intuition ! 

Theory 4. — Virtue tends to universal happiness ; and 
the agent is virtuous who intentionally promotes uni- 
versal happiness. Between two courses of conduct, we 
are under moral obligation always to choose that which 
will conduce most to universal good ; and hence general 
utility is the foundation of moral obligation. 

This theory has much to recommend it. No one will 
deny that virtue tends to produce universal happiness ; 
or that in general this tendency of an action determines 
it to be virtuous. The Scriptures declare that "love is 
the fulfilling of the law;" 3 and that "God is love." 4 
These declarations of inspired truth appear to teach, 
that all the moral obligations of men, and all the moral 
perfections of God, may be comprehended in the single 
word love. The advocates of this theory, beautiful for 
its simplicity, maintain that God's justice is merely a 
modification of his benevolence ; and that the punish- 

1 Col. iii. 20. 2 1 Tim. vi. 1. 3 Rom. xiii. 10. * 1 John iv. 8. 



THEORIES EXAMINED. 39 

ment of the wicked produces a greater amount of happi- 
ness in the universe than could exist if they were per- 
mitted to escape the penalty due to their crimes. 

But the theory is incapable of being proved. It 
cannot be demonstrated that happiness is the only ulti- 
mate good. In discussing Theory 1, it was shown that the 
happiness of an individual is not his only good ; and we 
may argue from analogy, that, contemplating the whole 
creation collectively as one being, its happiness is not its 
only good. Everyman who is compelled to choose between 
duty and enjoyment, opposes the will of God if he does 
not prefer holiness to happiness ; and if all creation 
could make the choice whether to be holy or happy, we 
cannot doubt which choice would accord with the will 
of God. God himself is perfectly holy, and perfectly 
happy ; but it is his holiness rather than his happiness 
which renders him the proper object of adoration. The 
worshipping hosts of heaven cry » Holy ! holy! holy! 
is the Lord I" 1 but it nowhere appears that they con- 
template his happiness as his supreme excellence. Since 
the happiness of God, so far from being the only good 
of his nature, is not even its chief good, we may infer 
that he did not create the universe chiefly for the pro- 
duction of happiness. His love has for its object the 
well-being rather than the happiness of his creatures; 
and of like character is the love to which all the moral 
obligations of men may be reduced. The ultimate good 
for which God created the world, and to which all virtue 
tends, is the glory of God, rather than the greatest 
amount of happiness. 2 



1 Isa. vi. 3. 

2 It has been objected to this theory, that if actions were right 
because productive of the greatest amount of happiness, the con- 
ception of right would, in our minds, be attended by the concep- 



40 MORAL OBLIGATION. 

Theory 5. — Virtue tends to produce universal good- 
will. Our actions are right, when, in performing them, 
we have the sympathy and approbation of mankind. 
We may, in any case, safely determine our course of 
conduct, by inquiring what an impartial spectator would 
approve. 

In our examination of Theory 2, it was shown that 
the moral sentiment in the breast of an individual, is 
not the foundation of his moral obligation ; much less 
can it be the foundation of obligation to other men. 
Hence, the moral sentiment of all men cannot be the 
foundation of all men's moral obligation. Nor is it 
even an infallible rule by which to judge of any man's 
duty. The general approbation of mankind is a better 
rule than an individual's own moral feelings ; but there 
may be occasions when a man of stern virtue is obliged 



tion of the greatest amount of happiness as its invariable antece- 
dent : and this, it is alleged, is not true, since we do not teach men 
what actions are right, by showing that they will produce the 
greatest amount of happiness ; and therefore the ideas of the two 
things have not such a connection in the mind that one of them 
must be an invariable antecedent of the other. But this objection 
is invalid. It erroneously assumes that the relation between 
objects of thought, and the relation between our conceptions of 
them, must be identical. The fallacy of this assumption may be 
easily illustrated. It may be true that a body is heavy because it 
contains lead ; but we may conceive that it is heavy, and may con- 
vince another that it is heavy, without directing any thought to the 
presence of the metal. 

Other objections to the theory have been founded on the mis- 
taken supposition that its advocates suppose right and productive- 
ness of happiness to be co-extensive qualities. But the moral 
quality resides in the intention ; and the production of happiness 
cannot be virtuous unless it be intentional. Productiveness of 
happiness is considered the genus, virtue the species, and inten- 
tion the specific difference. 



THEORIES EXAMINED. 41 

to outbrave the censure of the world, and heroically do 
what is right, in the face of public reprobation. 

The rule which the theory proposes, is impracticable. 
We have no means of ascertaining the moral sentiments 
of mankind, on every question of duty which calls for 
decision. These moral sentiments are not uniform ; 
and how to find, among them all, the proper rule of con- 
duct, is an insuperable difficulty. We are advised to 
imagine what an impartial spectator would approve ; 
but the imagination, after all, is our own, and the rule 
which it gives, proceeds from our own mind. 

Theory 6. — The universal good to which virtue 
tends, is impersonal, and consists in the fitness of things, 
or universal order. The idea of it is not obtained by 
observation or reflection, but by intuitive reason, like 
the ideas of space and time ; and, like these, is not kept 
in the mind by memory, but arises spontaneously when- 
ever we have need of it. It mingles with our mental 
operations, like the ideas of space and time, even when 
we have no thought of its presence ; and it is a present 
rule of moral judgment to all men, when a moral judg- 
ment needs to be formed. Moral good is the tendency 
of actions to promote this universal good; and, in 
judging of their tendency, reason operates in processes 
of deduction or induction ; but it conceives of the ulti- 
mate good itself by immediate intuition. 

Universal order includes geometrical order, which 
has respect to space ; historical order, which has respect 
to time ; philosophical order, which has respect to the 
relation of cause and effect ; and how many other kinds 
of order, I know not. Now, if every act which does 
not tend to universal order, is morally wrong, the agent 
is criminal, whose movements are ungraceful, untimely, 
or not wisely directed to the accomplishment of his pur- 
pose. But every man distinguishes ungracefulness, 
unseasonableness, and unskilfulness from criminality. 

4* 



42 MORAL OBLIGATION. 

How do men's minds make the distinction ? If intui- 
tive reason immediately separates the moral department 
from every other department of universal order, it 
must have an immediate perception of the moral quality 
which distinguishes this department ; and, then, all the 
difficulties attend the theory, which were brought to 
view in our examination of Theory 3. But if we attri- 
bute our discrimination to anything other than intuitive 
reason, we abandon the present theory. 

The rule by which it is affirmed that we form our 
moral judgments, is one which the mind can at best 
conceive with great dimness and indefiniteness ; and it 
is, therefore, not such a rule as men need for their 
direction in the duties of life. The ideas of time and 
space are attended with no obscurity or indefiniteness ; 
and no man asks what they are — but what is universal 
order ? Of space and time, the child and the savage 
have as clear conceptions as the philosopher ; but a 
clear conception of universal order — who possesses it ? 
If intuitive reason pours a bright light wherever else 
it shines, but sheds on virtue's path only a dim and 
uncertain ray, it cannot be that immortal and respon- 
sible man is left to its guidance. 

SECTION II. THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 

Op the six theories which we have examined, the 
first three suppose that each individual mind has, within 
itself, all the means necessary for solving the problem 
that has engaged our attention. The last three sup- 
pose it necessary to look beyond the individual mind, 
and contemplate the subject in its relation to the uni- 
verse. The fourth theory corresponds to the first, in 
making happiness the end of virtue ; but it substitutes 
the happiness of the universe for that of the individual. 
The fifth corresponds to the second, in making moral 



THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 43 

approbation the end of right actions ; but for the moral 
approbation of the agent himself, it substitutes that of 
mankind. The sixth corresponds to the third, in sup- 
posing the end to be an impersonal good intuitively 
perceived : but the third finds that good in each right 
action ; and the sixth finds it in a general end to which 
all right actions have direction and tendency. 

Our examination of these theories, in each one of 
which are some elements of truth, suggests the follow- 
ing observations: — 

I. Virtue tends to produce happiness, both individual 
and universal ; it deserves the approbation of the agent 
himself, and of all other persons ; and it is itself a good, 
and tends to universal good. All these propositions are 
elements of truth, which are found in the several 
theories, and which ought to be preserved as parts of 
the true ethical system. 

II. The means of solving the moral problem cannot 
be found in any single human mind. In attempting to 
find it there, the first three theories fail. Each human 
mind furnishes data sufficient to demonstrate that moral 
distinction and moral obligation exist ; but not sufficient 
for a thorough knowledge of their nature and founda- 
tion. When philosophy asks for a solution of the diffi- 
cult problem, each mind answers, It is not in me; and 
points outward to some external source of information. 

III. The created universe does not furnish data suffi- 
cient for a complete solution of the problem. It con- 
tains abundant proof everywhere that moral govern- 
ment exists ; but it can exhibit that government only 
partially and obscurely. When philosophy calls for the 
solution which it seeks, every mind answers, It is not in 
me, and points outward ; and, therefore, by the united 
testimony of all created minds, it is external to all : 
and where then can it be found ? 



44 MORAL OBLIGATION. 

One Being, too often overlooked by men, even by 
philosophic men, exists in the universe, to whom moral 
distinction and moral obligation are so related, that 
they are inexplicable, if the relation is unheeded. 
Philosophy travels through all created existence, and 
seeks in vain for a solution of her problem. When 
exhausted and despairing, religion meets her, and leads 
her to the throne of God, the moral governor of the 
universe, and the source and standard of moral perfec- 
tion. Here philosophy, transformed into intelligent 
piety, learns the solution which she has so anxiously 
and laboriously sought. Here, on the mount of God, 
elevated above the mists and darkness in which she 
wandered, she sees the mysterious subject in the clear 
light of day. 

Even in physics, and much more in morals, philo- 
sophy needs the aid of religion. The student of nature 
finds orders of sequence in the changes which he ob- 
serves ; and, having classified these, calls the several 
classes laws of nature ; but on what these laws are 
founded, or who enacted them, his dim-sighted philo- 
sophy does not discover. To nature, and the laws of 
nature, he attributes the generation and growth of 
animals and plants, and all the wonderful phenomena 
which pass under his view. But when religion has 
poured her bright light on his intellectual vision, he 
perceives that nature is God operating, and the laws of 
nature are the modes in which he works. So the moral 
philosopher, who leaves God out of his system, ascribes 
moral distinction and moral obligation to nature, or 
some other abstraction, such as fitness or universal 
order; but when he admits God into his system, his 
abstractions are transformed into a living agent and 
actual operations. ■ 

The fourth theory supposes the end of virtue to be 



THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 45 

the happiness of the universe. This theory is incom- 
plete without God. In God more happiness exists than 
in all the universe besides ; and if virtue tends to uni- 
versal happiness, its direction must be toward God. 
That it should seek to give pleasure to men, and be 
indifferent whether God is pleased or offended, cannot 
be supposed. There is a sense in which the happiness 
of God is incapable of increase or diminution ; but 
there is also a sense in which it is declared, that, 
because of men's great wickedness, " It repented the 
Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved 
him at his heart." 1 We may be justified in affirming, 
that, if iniquity were to prevail universally, God would 
be as miserable as he is now happy. It must be, there- 
fore, that virtue seeks to please God. Moreover, this 
theory needs an omniscient being to decide for us what 
actions tend to promote universal happiness. 

The fifth theory, also, is incomplete without God. 
It needs an impartial - spectator to judge for each man 
what is right, or worthy of approbation ; and no im- 
partial spectator, of infallible judgment, can be found, 
except God. He alone has the perfect knowledge of 
good and evil ; and philosophy aspires to be as God, if 
she claims the power to discriminate between them, 
without respect to his judgment. 

The sixth theory supposes the end of virtue to be 
universal order. Universal order must include order in 
things created and uncreated. Nothing is uncreated 
but God : yet he is more than all created things to- 
gether. Universal order must, therefore, include the 
perfections of God, and the relation of all created 
things to him, as well as their relation to each other. 



1 Gen. vi. 6. 



46 MORAL OBLIGATION. 

It is hence manifest, that the sixth theory is wholly in- 
complete without God. 

IV. Moral obligation is founded on the will of God. 
To understand this subject clearly, we must carefully 
distinguish between the sense of moral obligation in 
our minds, and the objective reality which exists inde- 
pendently of our mental conceptions and feelings. 
The moral government of God is an objective reality, 
which includes all that we know of moral obligation as 
an objective reality; and the moral government of God 
is founded on his will. His right to govern is founded 
on his nature ; but the government itself is founded on 
his will. 

God exercises a natural government over the mate- 
rial world. This government is founded on his will, so 
that, at his will, all the changes of nature take place. 
It would be a manifest absurdity to attribute the natural 
government of the world to fitness or order. Equally 
absurd is it, and even more absurd, to ascribe moral 
government, or the moral obligation which it includes, to 
any such abstraction. Moral government is directed to 
moral beings, and, being confined to moral beings at its 
termination, it would be unfit that it should proceed 
from any other than a moral being. It operates on the 
will of the governed, and proceeds from the will of the 
governor. 

In acting as the moral governor of the world, God is 
not subject to any superior power. He owes no subjec- 
tion to any being, real or imaginary, but does whatever 
he pleases, and none can stay his hand, or say to him, 
What doest thou? He is subject to no such abstrac- 
tion as necessity, fitness, or order. If these terms 
denote anything not existing in his nature, they can 
have no existence that is not dependent on his will, and 
therefore subject to him. 



THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 47 

The distinction between right and wrong is founded 
on the nature of God. We find moral obligation ope- 
rating on the will of man ; and here, taking hold of 
the clue, we follow it up to the will of God ; and here 
the clue stops : but we trace moral quality further. 
Were moral distinction founded on his will, his own per- 
fections would be without moral excellence, since these 
do not originate in his will ; and were it so, cruelty, 
fraud, falsehood, and hatred of God would have been 
virtues, if God had so willed ; and to say that God has 
a right to govern the world, would be to use language 
without meaning ; for there could be no right or wrong 
antecedent to the will of the governor. 

We cannot trace moral distinction to anything beyond 
the nature of God. When, in tracing the succession 
of cause and effect, we have gone backward along the 
line, until we have arrived at God, the first cause, our 
minds are prone to continue the search, and find a cause 
for God's existence. Indulging this propensity, we 
sometimes say that God. is self-existent. If this means 
that his existence is the cause of itself, it must equally 
mean that his existence is the effect of itself: but the 
idea that God's existence is an effect of anything, the 
mind rejects. We sometimes say that he exists neces- 
sarily ; but what do these words signify ? God's eternal 
existence has alwaj^s rendered his non-existence impos- 
sible ; for it is impossible for anything to be and not to 
be at the same time. But if our philosophy looks be- 
hind the existence of God to discover some cause neces- 
sitating his being, it searches for that which cannot be 
found. As natural philosophy traces the line of cause 
and effect to the existence of God, so moral philosophy 
traces moral quality to the perfections of God ; and 
here both are compelled to stop. 



48 MORAL QUALITY. 

At their origin in God, we contemplate moral quality 
as prior to moral obligation ; but, at their termination 
in man, the order is reversed. Moral obligation directly 
binds his will to the will of God; and the right or 
wrong of his actions follows, being determined by his 
obligations. 



CHAPTER III. 
MORAL FACULTY. 



SECTION I. ITS EXISTENCE. 

That peculiarity in the constitution of our minds, 
by which they are qualified to exercise moral approba- 
tion and disapprobation, and to feel moral obligation, is 
called the Moral Faculty, or Conscience. The exist- 
ence of the faculty is demonstrated by our conscious- 
ness of its operations ; for whatever the mind does, it 
must have a faculty for doing. Whether these opera- 
tions proceed from a single faculty, distinct from all 
other faculties, is a separate question : but some faculty 
for producing these effects must be supposed. 

The question whether the mental phenomena attri- 
buted to conscience are to be referred to a distinct 
faculty of the mind, belongs properly to mental science ; 
but its intimate connection with the subject of morals 
renders a notice of it proper in this place. 

In the use of the term Faculty the student should be 
on his guard, lest he conceive the mind, like the body, 
divisible into parts. We distinguish between the eye 
and the faculty of seeing. The eye, as a corporeal 
organ, is a part of the human body ; but the faculty 
of seeing, as appertaining to the mind, is not a part of 
the mind ; for it is a doctrine of mental philosophy 
that the mind is one and indivisible. In. seeing, hear- 
ing, smelling, &c, different organs of the body are em- 
ployed : and we are prone to conceive of the mind as 
5 (49) 



50 



MORAL FACULTY. 



organized in a manner somewhat similar, and possess- 
ing a distinct organ for each distinct class of its opera- 
tions. Such conceptions are inconsistent with the 
immateriality and indivisibility of the mind. A faculty 
of the mind is merely its capability of acting, or being 
affected, in some particular manner ; and the distinction 
between its faculties arises from the classification of its 
operations and affections. If the classes are multiplied 
the faculties are multiplied ; and vice versa. Hence 
the inquiry, whether conscience is a single faculty, or 
a combination of faculties, may be resolved into this : 
May all the operations and affections of mind which are 
attributed to conscience be arranged in one class of the 
mental phenomena ? In moral philosophy the question 
is of little importance ; and in mental science it is a 
question of mere classification. 

Conscience has been defined " that faculty by which 
we discern the moral quality of actions, and by which 
we are capable of certain affections in respect to this 
quality." 1 The discernment of the quality is here dis- 
tinguished from the affection subsequently arising in the 
mind : and if the two should be referred to distinct facul- 
ties, the facts will not be thereby altered, or their bear- 
ing on moral science changed. The view of a landscape 
is attended with pleasure ; but we refer the seeing of 
the objects to one faculty, and the emotion of pleasure 
which accompanies it to another. If we, in like manner, 
refer the discernment of the moral quality to one 
faculty, and the affection which subsequently arises, to 
another, both the faculties are included in the import 
of the term conscience, as this term is commonly em- 
ployed by writers on the subject. 

But some writers have maintained that the term con- 



1 Wayland. 



ITS EXISTENCE. 51 

science ought to be restricted to those mental discern- 
ments and affections which respect our own actions only, 
and in this way distinguish between conscience and the 
moral faculty, assigning to the latter the cognisance of 
all moral actions, bj whomsoever performed. Perhaps 
the etymology of the term conscience justifies this dis- 
tinction ; but writers have not carefully observed it. 
The faculty of discerning the moral quality in our own 
actions, and the faculty of discerning the moral quality 
in the actions of others, though language may give 
different names, do not require to be enumerated in 
science as two distinct faculties. 

Some objections to the doctrine that men are en- 
dowed with a moral faculty need to be considered. 

Objection 1. — Men's notions of right and wrong are 
the result of education, and differ according to the 
opinions and usages of the nation to which they belong. 
In one country parents destroy their children without 
remorse, or offer them in sacrifice to the gods with re- 
ligious devotion. In another, such practices shock all 
the moral feelings. In one country, a son, in the ex- 
ercise of filial piety, lights the funeral pile which is to 
consume his widowed mother with the lifeless corpse of 
her deceased husband. In another, the same son would 
have spent his own life in arduous toil to sustain and 
comfort his mother in her bereavement. If conscience 
were a natural endowment, the moral sense would every- 
where take the same view of actions, as the eyes of men 
everywhere give like perceptions of external objects. 

It is not a sufficient answer to this objection, that the 
moral quality of actions resides in the intention, and 
that parents who destroy their children, and children 
who destroy their parents, perform these acts with good 
intentions. The father may kill his child to save it from 
the evil to come ; and the mother may throw her infant 
into the Ganges, or burn it to Moloch, that an offended 



52 MORAL FACULTY. 

deity may be propitiated, and calamity averted. A son 
may assist to destroy his mother, that the sorrows of 
her widowhood may be terminated, and the fidelity and 
strength of her conjugal love honorably demonstrated. 
But these considerations respect the intention with 
which the deeds are done ; and therefore do not contain 
the moral quality proper to the acts themselves. Why 
are the deeds themselves viewed so differently, that the 
moral sense in one country discovers in them a moral 
quality of blackest atrocity ; and, in another, perceives 
in them nothing dark or repulsive ? 

Nor is it an answer to the objection, that the father 
who destroys his child imagines that the life of his 
infant is as much at his disposal as the life of the lamb 
which he kills for food or sacrifice. How comes it that 
he so mistakes his rights and obligations, if conscience 
within is the voice of God, teaching men their duty ? 

The true answer to the objection will be found in its 
inapplicability to the subject. Its argument may correct 
a mistake concerning the office of conscience, but does 
not disprove its existence. Conscience does not, imme- 
diately on discovering the relation of a father to his 
child, pronounce, as with the voice of God, all the 
duties arising from this relation. It does not, imme- 
diately on contemplating an action, perceive its moral 
quality, without any labor of investigation, as the eye 
distinguishes between red and green. Conscience is 
not infallible. Its decisions, like those of the intellect, 
may be erroneous ; but the existence of neither con- 
science nor intellect can be disproved by its liability to 
err. 

The objection proves diversity, not absence of con- 
science. If parents destroy children, and children 
their parents, with good intent, their misguided con- 
sciences approve the good intent, and show that, how- 



ITS EXISTENCE. 53 

ever blindly and wickedly they act, they are still moral 
beings. The objection cannot prevail, unless all sense 
of moral distinction were absent from intelligent human 
minds. 

Corruption of morals in heathen countries, accompa- 
nies corruption of religion. When men forsook the 
worship of the true God, they did not lose all sense of 
religious obligation, but multiplied for themselves 
abominable deities, whom they worshipped with weari- 
some labor and costly sacrifices. Religious obligation 
is the highest species of moral obligation ; and the 
acknowledgment of it, by the most corrupt and degraded 
of our race, demonstrates that man, however low he 
may fall, cannot cease to be a moral being. 

Another consideration on this subject ought not to 
be overlooked. Though the decisions of the human 
conscience vary much in different circumstances, there 
is a limit to the variety. In what age or nation have 
acts of disinterested benevolence been disapproved ? 
Where has it ever been thought right, to requite kind- 
ness with intentional unkindness ? However widely the 
moral sentiments of men may diverge, there appears to 
be a radical principle in which they all agree, and from 
which they proceed. The corruption of moral senti- 
ment is among the evidences of our depravity, and 
forms a part of it. It exhibits the law written in the 
heart — defaced and obscured in various degrees. But, 
however defaced, it still exists in every heart ; and, 
however obscured, some portions of it are still legible. 

Objection 2. — If an innate faculty of the mind de- 
termines the obligations arising from our various rela- 
tions, and gives an original law for the government of 
our actions, there must be in the mind an innate know- 
ledge of all our relations through life. This no one will 
maintain. 
5* 



54 MORAL FACULTY. 

The moral faculty is natural to man, and belongs 
to the original constitution of the mind ; but, like other 
faculties with which it may be compared, it does not 
come into exercise till a proper occasion for its exercise 
occurs. Memory is a natural and original faculty of 
the mind ; but it does not act until we have something 
to remember. The mind has a faculty for comparing 
things with each other ; but it does not compare things 
before it has knowledge of them. We are born with a 
faculty for reasoning ; but we do not bring into the 
world minds already filled with syllogisms, and expert 
in all the deductions of logic. Nature gives us eyes ; 
but they remain useless till light falls upon them. The 
light finds the eye already adapted to receive and 
transmit it, and the mind already adapted to receive 
the visual sensation. To this innate susceptibility we 
are indebted for all the knowledge obtained by means 
of vision. The knowledge is not innate, but the faculty 
of obtaining it belongs to the natural constitution of 
man. So the moral faculty is natural to man, though 
its decisions and impulses do not date back earlier than 
the occasions which draw them forth. 

When the Scripture speaks of " the law written in 
the heart," 1 it uses figurative language, which does not, 
by fair interpretation, denote a perfect code of law 
adapted to all the possible relations of life ; much less 
does it affirm the existence of such a code at the time 
of birth. It refers to men in active life, " their con- 
science bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean 
while accusing or else excusing one another ;" and it 
affirms that they are so far "a law unto themselves" 
as to be "without excuse." 2 



iRom. ii. 15. 2 Kom. i. 20. 



ITS OFFICES. 55 

Objection 3. — A moral faculty, if it exists, is after 
all useless. If men choose to disobey its law and endure 
the remorse which it inflicts, it has no means of enforc- 
ing its authority. 

With equal plausibility it may be argued, that the 
faculty of seeing is useless. If men choose to shut 
their eyes and endure all the consequences of wilful 
blindness, the seeing faculty has no means of over- 
coming their obstinacy. Eyes are not useless to man- 
kind, because some men may refuse to see with theirs; 
and conscience is not useless to mankind, because some 
men foolishly and wickedly disregard its admonitions. 

SECTION II. ITS OFFICES. 

In taking cognisance of human actions, the mind 
discerns their moral quality, and feels certain affections 
with respect to it. If the discernment and the feeling 
belong to the same faculty, they must be referred to 
distinct offices of that faculty. A further division of 
these offices may be made with reference to a diversity 
in the moral affections, arising from a diversity of the 
relations and circumstances in which the moral quality 
may be contemplated. 

1. Conscience discerns the moral quality of actions. 

Because of its discerning office, conscience has been 
called the moral sense ; but, though some analogy may 
be traced between its operations and those of the senses 
which give us the knowledge of material objects, it 
differs from them essentially in the mode of operation. 
The senses give their testimony directly, and produce 
uniformity of belief among mankind with respect to 
the nature and properties of external objects. The 
discriminations of conscience are judgments formed by 
comparing actions with some assumed standard of right. 
This is at least commonly true with respect to the moral 



56 MORAL FACULTY. 

discernments of adult men. The standard of right, 
according to which they judge, differs in different ages 
and countries, and with different individuals of the same 
age and country : and hence arises that diversity in 
the decisions of conscience, which some have used as 
an argument against the existence of the faculty. 

In classifying mental phenomena, and referring them 
to different faculties of the mind, it is a question of 
difficulty, whether the discriminations of conscience are 
not purely intellectual. The same intellect which studies 
mathematics studies moral philosophy ; and it is difficult 
to say why all the deductions and conclusions of the 
latter science might not be successfully made by a mind 
totally incapable of moral emotion, if supplied with the 
proper data for its reasonings. Every one is conscious 
that he exercises his intellect, often with intense solici- 
tude, in his endeavors to find out what is right and what 
is wrong. If all this mental labor, with the decision in 
which it terminates, must be referred to some one men- 
tal faculty, it is difficult to determine whether it belongs 
to the domain of conscience or that of reason. This 
difficulty is best disposed of by denying that the facul- 
ties of the mind have separate dominions, like the 
sovereigns of earth exercising authority within their 
respective boundaries. 

2. Conscience impels us to observe the moral quality, 
and to search for it when not at once discovered. 

Some qualities of material objects awaken but little 
attention, because they produce but little sensation, 
either pleasurable or painful ; but those qualities which 
give much pleasure or pain do not pass unnoticed. So 
human actions may have properties which our minds 
suffer to pass unobserved; but their natural constitution 
is such that we cannot be indifferent to the moral 
quality. To be indifferent to it, is to be past feeling, 



ITS OFFICES. 57 

or to have the conscience seared as with a hot iron ; 
and it is therefore an unnatural state of the mind. Con- 
science, in its proper exercise, not merely sits in judg- 
ment on cases officially submitted, but brings the cases 
to trial, and presses their investigation. 

The impulsion to search for the moral quality when 
not at once discoverable, though less operative with 
respect to the actions of others, is strongly felt in the 
self-examinations of the conscientious man. He searches 
his actions thoroughly ; and when not successful to the 
satisfaction of the internal impulse by which he is moved, 
he prays, " Search me, God, and know my heart ; 
try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be 
any wicked way in me." 1 If some persons are less 
scrutinizing in their self-examination, it is because they 
give less heed to the impulses of conscience, or have 
weakened these impulses by sinful habits. 

3. Conscience approves or disapproves actions 
according to the moral quality discovered in them, and 
reviews our own actions with self-approbation or remorse 
according as they are judged to be right or wrong. 

We are all conscious of feeling approbation or dis- 
approbation in contemplating moral actions. No other 
testimony to the existence of these emotions can be 
given, than that of consciousness ; and no other is 
needed. We have no better proof that we think, that 
we remember, that we reason. On the same testimony 
we learn the character of these emotions, and become 
assured that they differ from all other affections of the 
mind. All attempts to demonstrate by processes of 
reasoning, that they are not modifications of some other 
mental affection, amount to nothing. Either the truth 
does not come out legitimately in our conclusion, or it 

1 Ps. cxxxix. 23-4. 



58 MORAL FACULTY. 

must be assumed in the premises ; for the conclusion 
cannot contain more than is contained in the premises. 
It is easy to deceive ourselves in such matters, by 
assuming unwittingly the thing to be proved. But con- 
sciousness furnishes the proof which is needed on this 
point ; for every one knows that the feeling of remorse 
which arises in reviewing his own guilty deeds, differs 
from every other pain of which his nature is suscepti- 
ble. 

We may class approbation among our pleasurable, 
and disapprobation among our painful emotions. The 
pleasure or pain which attends them in their feebler 
exercises may pass unnoticed, but we become sensible 
of it when the emotions are called forth in their full 
strength. So we are distinctly sensible of the pleasure 
which the emotion of beauty produces when we contem- 
plate an enchanting landscape, a well-arranged and 
richly-furnished flower-garden, or a painting of extra- 
ordinary merit ; but we view the ordinary scenes of 
nature with no other than the unobserved pleasure of 
mental tranquillity. We pronounce virtue lovely, and 
dwell on the contemplation of it with delight. We 
pronounce vice odious, and turn away from it with ab- 
horrence. If we are shut up with vice in constant view, 
either our consciences lose their sensibility, or our pain 
becomes intense. Lot, in Sodom, was vexed with the 
filthy conversation of the wicked ; and a pious mother 
has often been made completely wretched by the wicked- 
ness of a profligate son whom she cannot forget. Such 
is the tendency of sin to produce pain in its virtuous 
beholder, that the ever-blessed God is represented as 
unable to look upon it. " Thou art of purer eyes than 
to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." 1 He 

1 Hab. i. 13. 



ITS OFFICES. 59 

is compelled to turn away from beholding evil, lest the 
view of it should disturb the perfect happiness which 
he enjoys. What an awful prospect is before the 
workers of iniquity ! To be shut up for ever with wicked 
men and devils, is of itself enough, while immortal con- 
science lives, in full strength, to render existence in- 
tolerable. 

Not only do the moral emotions give pleasure or pain 
to him who feels them, but they incline him to give 
pleasure or pain to the agent whose actions awaken 
them. In approving, we feel that he deserves reward ; 
in disapproving, we feel that he deserves punishment. 
To some extent, this sense of his desert involves a 
desire to reward or punish him ourselves. Restrained, 
by regard to higher authority, from taking vengeance 
in our own hands, we approve the government which 
inflicts pain on the agent of wickedness ; and, in this 
way, conscience calls for a. moral government in the 
universe, to render to every man according to his deeds. 

Let us observe that the reward or punishment which 
conscience calls for, affects the agent, not his actions. 
We speak of approving or disapproving an action, but 
the object of the approbation or disapprobation is in 
reality the agent. To him we award the praise or 
blame due to his action, and on him we wish the reward 
or punishment to fall. This precisely accords with the 
doctrine before advanced, that the moral quality of an 
action resides in the intention of the agent. 

The operation of conscience in the individual mem- 
bers of human society constitutes, by its united influ- 
ence, the moral sentiment of the community. Though 
wickedness has overspread the earth, and introduced 
innumerable woes, God has been pleased, by the moral 
faculty in the human breast, to restrain its power, and 
render human life and human society tolerable. Public 



60 MORAL FACULTY. 

sentiment frowns on vice when interfering with public 
happiness, and the agent of wickedness feels that man- 
kind are against him. Public disapprobation of crime 
so far includes a desire to punish it, that men have 
sometimes, under its sudden impulse, taken vengeance 
into their own hands, without waiting for the slow pro- 
cess of law. In the ordinary course of procedure, it is 
left for law to punish the criminal ; and so far, law is 
the conscience of the community: but public moral sen- 
timent condemns innumerable acts which the laws of 
men do not punish, and, in so doing, calls for a moral 
government of perfect administration. 

The pleasure which arises from moral approbation 
attends the exercises of piety. The good man approves 
the character of God, as displayed in his works, and de- 
lights in contemplating it. This holy pleasure which 
he enjoys on earth is a foretaste of the higher pleasure 
which awaits him in heaven. There the character of 
God will be more abundantly unfolded to his view, and 
the pleasure of approbation will ripen into full bliss in 
the perfect knowledge of God. 

Our moral emotions find occasion for strong exercise 
in the review of our own actions. Conscience impels 
us to this review, and then rewards or punishes us with 
self-approbation or remorse. The virtuous man, in his 
consciousness of innocence, feels peace within. If slan- 
dered and condemned by others, the testimony of his 
own conscience sustains him, and he is satisfied and 
happy in himself. The guilty man, on the other hand, 
feels a torment within which nothing can effectually 
assuage. The world may smile on him, and his cup of 
sensual pleasure may be filled with delights, but remorse 
tortures his bosom and preys on his spirits. The secret 
anguish attends him everywhere, and is a foretaste of 
the misery that awaits him in the future world. 



ITS OFFICES. 61 

Conscience not only inflicts its own tortures on the 
guilty man, but it produces a dread of punishment from 
others. He feels that mankind are against him, and 
that God is against him. The workings of conscience 
within may be unheeded, or they may be in part sup- 
pressed by vicious passions, or prevented by obduracy 
or ignorance — but the sense of deserving punishment, 
he cannot wholly eradicate from his breast. Hence his 
fears. Guilt makes him a coward. However bold he 
may have been in the commission of crime, he becomes 
tame and cowardly in the apprehension of punishment. 
He suspects danger from every quarter, and starts with 
terror when no evil approaches. " The wicked flee 
when no man pursueth." 1 

Moreover, conscience often becomes an informant 
against the transgressor. He has a secret in his breast 
which he is unable to keep. He cannot act as if it 
were not there. It requires incessant vigilance to 
guard every word and action, so that nothing shall fur- 
nish a clue to its detection. His timidity induces him 
to suspect that he is suspected, and he is therefore un- 
able to act the part of conscious innocence. In addition 
to all this, the sense of his just desert tends to make 
him submissive; and so far prepares him for confession, 
that his vigilance is abated, and, at an unguarded mo- 
ment, the secret is disclosed. 

4. Conscience impels us to do what is right, and 
avoid what is wrong. 

This impulse of conscience is prospective, and finds 
a place in the deliberations of the mind previous to 
action. Frequently it comes into conflict with strong 
passion or vehement desire, and then the power of the 
impulse is manifested in its highest degree. The 

1 Prov. xxviii. 1. 



62 MORAL FACULTY. 

struggle which ensues is often as much as the mind can 
bear. But when a criminal deed has been resolved on, 
conscience may be hushed into silence until the deed 
has been consummated. It seems to sleep — but it 
sleeps to awake again, and punish the slighting of its 
admonitions with pangs of remorse. In this procedure 
it acts as God's vicegerent in the human breast. The 
wicked may learn from its mode of action that, though 
God may leave them at quiet when they have rejected 
his authority, and fixed their hearts on a course of 
transgression, yet he will at length arise against them 
in judgment and terrible retribution. " These things 
hast thou done, and I kept silence ; thou thoughtest 
that I was altogether such an one as thyself, but I will 
reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. 
Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you 
in pieces, and there be none to deliver." 1 

This prospective impulse of conscience directs the 
life of the good man. Paul claimed to have acted 
under its influence when he said, "I have lived in all 
good conscience until this day." 2 The conduct which 
conscience previously commands, it subsequently ap- 
proves ; and the first ministers of Christianity must 
have obeyed its prospective impulse, when they could 
afterwards say, " Our rejoicing is this, the testimony 
of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, 
not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we 
have had our conversation in the world." 3 Neither 
the teachings of revelation, nor the influences of the 
Holy Spirit, dispense with the exercises of the human 
conscience ; but, on the contrary, illuminate its judg- 
ments and quicken its impulses. 

We are so constituted that a large part of our plea- 

1 Ps. 1. 21-22. 2 Acts xxiii. 1. 3 2 Cor. i. 12. 



ITS OFFICES. 63 

sure is experienced in action. Even the bliss of 
heaven does not consist in mere passive enjoyment, but 
its inhabitants serve God day and night. 1 Hence, the 
impulse of conscience to the performance of good ac- 
tions greatly promotes human happiness. It is an 
inlet of pleasure to the soul during our abode on earth, 
and through it a stream of delight will flow into our 
beatified spirits for ever. Both on earth and in heaven 
it is true, that in keeping God's commandments there is 
great reward; 2 and our mental constitution exhibits an 
adaptedness, not only to the service which religion^ 
requires, but also to the felicity which religion promises. 

The investigations of this section assist us to answer 
such questions as the following : 

Question I. — For what purpose is it that, in our 
mental constitution, moral feeling is superadded to 
moral discernment? 

Feeling is necessary to induce action. We may 
know the way which leads to an object, but, if we feel 
no desire to reach that object, we remain stationary, or 
move in some other direction. The clearest percep- 
tions of right and wrong, if unaccompanied with feeling, 
would leave us inactive. It was necessary for the well- 
being of all who may be affected by our conduct, that 
we should be under the influence of some power impel- 
ling us to virtuous actions ; and that power is found in 
the moral feelings with which we are endowed. 

But why is a specific feeling necessary for this pur- 
pose? Could not man have been placed under a system 
of government, with rewards and punishments set 
before him, and be left to the hope of reward and fear 
of punishment as motives to obedience? 3 If these 

1 Rev. vii. 15. 2 Ps. xix. 11. 

3 Paley's definition of virtue appears to admit not only the pos- 



64 MORAL FACULTY. 

feelings of hope and fear may secure obedience, what 
need is there that feelings of a distinct class denomi- 
nated moral, should be superadded? This question 
may be answered by considering other cases in some 
respects analogous. We are constituted with a love of 
life, which might lead us to take the food necessary to 
preserve life. Why is the feeling of hunger super- 
added ? Again, the love of life might lead us to flee 
from threatening dangers. Why is the emotion of fear 
superadded ? In these cases, specific feelings, hunger 
and fear, are necessary to secure the desired effect with 
promptness and certainty. If men were left to take 
food, when the slow deductions of reason, acting under 
the influence of love of life, call them to the necessary 
work, the preservation of life would be left in great in- 
security. If men were left to reason and the love of 
life to guard them from danger, without the emotion of 
fear, the watchfulness, caution, and activity now dis- 
played in avoiding or escaping danger, would be, to a 
great extent, unknown. In like manner, the fear or 
hope of a distant future retribution, is not a sufficient 
impulse to virtuous action. Reason and the love of 
happiness would operate too slowly. We need an im- 
pulse, which, like that of hunger and fear, operates 
promptly and directly to its specific object; and this 
impulse is provided in the moral feelings with which we 
are endowed. 

A further reason for the superaddition of moral feel- 
ing appears to be, to render man a moral and account- 
able creature. It must, I think, be admitted, that there 
is no natural impossibility to prevent the government 



sibility, but the actual existence, of such a constitution of the 
human mind. " Virtue is the doing good to mankind in obedience 
to the will of God, and for the sake of everlasting happiness." 



ITS OFFICES. 65 

of God from being extended over a race of rational 
beings, capable of hope and fear, but not endowed with 
moral feeling ; yet it does not appear that this would 
be moral government. As far as we know, the posses- 
sion of moral feeling is a test by which it may be 
determined whether a creature was designed for moral 
government. It is this, which, above everything else, 
distinguishes man from brutes. 

Question II. — Do moral discernment and moral 
feeling always accompany each other ? 

In the progress of depravity, men sometimes become 
past feeling, having their consciences seared as with a 
hot iron ; but they are not thereby rendered ignorant 
of the distinction between right and wrong. The 
moral discernment remains, after the moral feelings are 
extinct, or blunted. On the other hand, it would be 
difficult to show that our first moral feelings are 
attended with a distinct conception of right and wrong. 
Infants, and the young of irrational animals, manifest 
the emotion of fear, before they have had experience 
of danger. As this instinctive emotion operates, with- 
out any distinct conception of danger, so it may be that 
our first moral feeling may be unattended with any dis- 
tinct conception of right and wrong. Allowing the 
cases which have been mentioned to be exceptions, it 
will still remain the general rule, that moral discern- 
ment and moral feeling accompany each other. Our 
consciousness testifies that we approve what we per- 
ceive to be right, and perceive to be right what we 
approve. 

Question III. — What is the,relation between moral 
discernment and moral feeling ? 

Do we approve an action because we perceive it to 
be right ; or do we know that it is right, because it has 
produced in us the feeling of approbation ? 
6* 



66 MORAL FACULTY. 

Our feelings are often controlled by our judgment. 
The first view of an object may excite fear; and a sub- 
sequent examination of that object may entirely banish 
our fear, by convincing us that we have no reason to 
apprehend danger. In like manner, a child may feel 
strong emotions of disapprobation on seeing the picture 
of Abraham offering up Isaac ; but when he learns that 
this act was performed in obedience to Divine com- 
mand, and that it is right to obey God, this feeling is 
changed into approbation. The last feeling is clearly 
an effect of a moral judgment preceding ; but we can- 
not safely affirm the same concerning the feeling of dis- 
approbation with which the action was first regarded. 
In one case, we see the standard for trying the action 
set up, the action compared with it, and the judgment 
brought in, before the moral feeling exists ; but we do 
not see these in the other case. Before all instruction 
the mind appears to be a law to itself ; and we have 
reason to conclude, that a feeling of approbation im- 
mediately arises on seeing a benevolent action, and a 
feeling of disapprobation on seeing an intention of 
doing harm. By this law of moral instinct, the moral 
character of actions is at first tried ; and we learn to 
consider them as right or wrong. From this our first 
knowledge of the meaning of the terms right and 
wrong, is derived. In this case, therefore, the moral 
feeling is first in order, and not consequent on any pre- 
ceding moral judgment. 

In the view we have taken of this subject, it may be 
remarked, that the instinctive moral feelings recognise 
only the elementary .principles of morality. This 
accounts for the general agreement of nations in the 
fundamental principles of morals, while they differ so 
widely in their judgment as to the moral character of 
many actions. While some support their aged parents, 



ITS AUTHORITY. 67 

and others think it right to put them to death, they all 
regard benevolent actions with approbation. In these 
moral feelings, the likeness of Deity appears in which 
man was created, surviving even the ruins of the fall. 

SECTION III. ITS AUTHORITY. 

The authority of conscience may be considered, 1, 
with respect to other impulses which move to action ; 
and 2, with respect to the authority of God. 

I. By the constitution of the human mind, conscience 
is made the supreme director of our conduct, and in- 
vested with authority to control all other impulses to 
action. 

The other impulses to action may be conveniently 
divided into two classes : those which tend to present 
gratification only, and those which have respect to our 
general good. To the first class belong appetites and 
passions ; all the particular impulses of the second class 
may be included under the name self-love. Appetites 
and passions call for present gratification, however 
momentary, regardless of all consequences to ourselves 
or others. Self-love aims at our good on the whole, 
taking the future as well as the present into the account ; 
but, if no higher impulse controls its direction, it aims 
at the good of the individual, disregarding the welfare 
of all others. All these impulses need to be governed 
by a higher impulse that the general good may be pro- 
moted. In order that man may be adapted to society, 
as well as for other purposes of his existence, an im- 
pulse is fixed in the constitution of his mind, with 
authority to control appetite, passion, and self-love, 
and promote the general good. This authoritative im- 
pulse is conscience. 

The supreme authority of conscience does not imply 
that it is endowed with overpowering strength. Other 



68 MORAL FACULTY. 

impulses may be stronger, and may prevail : but the 
impulse of conscience is not the less authoritative on 
that account. The authority of parents may be 
resisted by disobedient children ; and even the authority 
of God may be rejected and contemned by sinful men; 
but in neither case does the authority cease because it 
fails to produce the proper effect. The impulses which 
ought to be subordinate to conscience may be in rebel- 
lion, and may exercise governing power ; but conscience is 
the rightful sovereign over all the active powers of man. 

Conscience is the only impulse which possesses 
authority in the moral sense of the term. We may 
speak of obeying other impulses, as we say that mat- 
ter obeys the law of nature ; but no other impulse 
binds with moral obligation, unless conscience lends its 
authority. As intelligent beings, our minds are so con- 
stituted that self-love holds a higher rank among our 
impulses than appetite or passion. Irrational animals 
may yield themselves up to present gratification ; and 
men who do so become assimilated to brutes ; but intel- 
ligence, without the aid of a moral faculty, will prefer 
the good of the whole life to, a momentary gratification. 
Self-love may control the lower propensities and teach 
a temperate use of present enjoyment, and a prudent 
regard to future good ; but the government of self-love 
is natural, not moral ; and temperance and prudence, 
as exercised in obedience to its dictates, are merely 
natural virtues : men may practise them, who disobey 
all the monitions of conscience, and regard not either 
God or man. 

The authority of conscience extends over our appe- 
tites and passions, and its chief service in relation to 
them is to restrain their indulgence. But it also finds 
at all times proper scope for its exercise, in approving 
present gratification when not unlawful. It is not 



ITS AUTHORITY. 69 

beyond its office to teach that God "giveth us richly 
all things to enjoy;" 1 and that, within due limits, to 
enjoy is to obey. 

Conscience authoritatively establishes the subordina- 
tion of our lower propensities to self-love. It requires, 
with the force of moral obligation, that men should 
forego present gratification for the sake of future and 
greater good ; and thus converts temperance and pru- 
dence into moral virtues, when practised in obedience 
to its authority. It stamps its disapprobation on beastly 
indulgence ; and moves the scorn and contempt of man- 
kind against the fool who sacrifices the happiness of 
his whole life, and even of the next hour, to a present 
momentary sensual gratification. 

The authority of conscience extends over self-love, 
and it is in this chiefly that its supremacy appears. 

It is not true, as some have maintained, that all 
virtuous feeling is a modification of self-love. On the 
contrary, the virtuous impulse and the impulse of self- 
love move in opposite directions ; the former tending to 
the diffusion of happiness, and the latter to its absorp- 
tion. We have seen that all nations, however they may 
differ from each other in their moral sentiments, agree 
in approving intentional acts of disinterested benevo- 
lence. All consciences approve the outward flow of the 
affections ; and we may infer that the primary impulse 
of conscience is in this direction ; and therefore anta- 
gonistic to the impulse of self-love. In this the 
morality of conscience agrees with that of revelation. 
The Bible does not command that our affections should 
tend inwardly and concentrate on self; but that they 
should move outwardly toward God and our neighbor. 
The Author of the Bible is the Author of this impulse 

1 7 Tim. vi. 17. 



70 MORAL FACULTY. 

• 
in the human mind, which operates as a primary ele- 
ment in our moral nature, and continues to operate even 
where the moral sentiments and practices of men are 
most corrupt. 

The proof that conscience is, by the constitution of 
the human mind, clothed with supreme authority, may 
be satisfactorily drawn from the operations of a single 
mind ; but it is made complete and irresistible by the 
concurrent moral judgments of mankind. All agree in 
their approbation of him who obeys the impulse of con- 
science in opposition to all opposing impulses. The 
glutton, who indulges his appetite to the ruin of his 
health and happiness, and the miser, who, obeying the 
promptings of self-love, seeks his own interest, blind to 
the interests of all around him, are condemned by the 
unanimous verdict of society : but all men honor the 
man who steadily and firmly obeys the impulse of con- 
science, in opposition to the temptations of pleasure, 
power, and wealth. The praises of such men are cele- 
brated by poets and historians ; and an immortality of 
renown is awarded to them by the common voice of suc- 
ceeding generations. 

II. The authority of conscience is subordinate to the 
authority of God. 

The supremacy which we have attributed to con- 
science is not absolute, but relative to the other im- 
pulses of the mind. It is invested with this supremacy 
by the appointment of God. 

The constitution of the human mind proceeds from 
God's creating power. He gives the mind its faculties, 
and determines the proper order of their operation. If 
conscience rules in the human breast by original right, 
it must rule by divine appointment ; and therefore by 
authority derived from God. 

That conscience rules by the will of God, may be 
argued from the beneficial tendency of obedience to its 



ITS AUTHORITY. 71 

authority. Virtue promotes happiness according to the 
order of things which God has established ; and virtue 
implies obedience to conscience. Hence all the benefits 
resulting from virtue, express the approbation with 
which the Author of nature regards obedience to con- 
science. They testify that it rules by his will. 

Revelation proves that conscience bears rule by the 
will of God. We have seen that Paul, and the other 
ministers of Christ who were his fellow-laborers, 
obeyed the impulse of conscience, and rejoiced in its 
approving testimony. The supremacy of conscience 
was inculcated by them as a doctrine of their religion. 
Weakness of conscience was sometimes exhibited in 
abstinence from meat, and the avoiding of things 
accounted unclean. In such cases the conscience of 
the individual was made a rule which he could not 
innocently violate : « He that doubteth is damned if he 
eat." 1 « To him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, 
to him it is unclean." 2 However innocent the action 
might be in itself, the agent was not innocent if he vio- 
lated the authority of conscience. The supremacy of 
conscience is therefore a doctrine of Christianity. 

We have proved that conscience rules by the appoint- 
ment of God, and that God will not hold him guiltless 
who violates its authority. The fact that it rules by 
God's appointment, implies its subordination to God. 
Though a weak and erring conscience cannot be inno- 
cently disobeyed, yet, because of its liability to weak- 
ness and error, there is necessity to examine its deci- 
sions, and correct them by reference to higher authority. 
Disobedience to conscience is always wrong ; but he 
who obeys conscience is not always in the right. Men 
are responsible for the state of their conscience, when 

1 Rom. xiv. 23. 2 Rom. xiv. 14. 



72 MORAL FACULTY. 

they neglect the means afforded them, for its improve- 
ment. Paul thought that he did God service 1 when 
he persecuted the saints ; but when his conscience 
became enlightened he considered his conduct highly 
criminal. 2 It is clear, therefore, that conscience may 
be in error ; and that, in this case, obedience to it is 
not virtue. 

SECTION IV. ITS IMPROVEMENT. 

The moral faculty is susceptible of improvement. It 
is not a foreign substance deposited in the mind, un- 
affected by its growth ; — a literal tablet of law written 
in the heart, remaining always the same. But it is the 
mind itself in one class of its operations, and it is 
therefore susceptible of improvement like all other 
powers of the mind. The Scriptures speak of weak con- 
sciences ; of defiled consciences ; but weak consciences 
may be strengthened, and defiled consciences may be 
purified. A progress of improvement in the moral 
faculty is as possible as in the understanding, the mem 
ory, the taste, or the reasoning faculty. 

In its susceptibility of improvement, the moral faculty 
differs from the instincts of brutes. These are the same 
in every individual of a species ; and are as operative 
in the beginning of life as in old age. The hen hatches 
and trains her first brood with as much skill as the last ; 
and the hen of this generation is no wiser than her 
parent hen before the flood. Man's progressiveness is 
an argument for the soul's immortality ; and the pro- 
gressiveness of the moral faculty connects our moral 
character with the immortality which we have in pros- 
pect. 

The improvement of the moral faculty is one of our 

1 John xvi. 2 ; Acts xxvi. 9, 11. 2 1 Tim. i. 13 j 1 Cor. xv. 9 



ITS IMPROVEMENT. 73 

most important duties. Our moral nature is that which 
chiefly distinguishes us from brutes, and gives us the 
elevated position which we hold among God's creatures. 
The cultivation of the intellectual powers is important 
for the interests of the individual, and of society. 
Hence the schools multiplied through the land are a 
blessing to our age and country ; and the years of toil 
spent in them as we advance to manhood, are a profita- 
ble discipline, preparing us to act our part at mature 
years. But the cultivation of the moral powers greatly 
transcends in importance. Without this, all our intel- 
lectual strength and acquisitions may be a curse to our- 
selves and to mankind. He who cultivates his under- 
standing, and neglects his moral faculty, though men 
should esteem him wise, is a fool in God's sight ; and 
eternity will demonstrate his folly. 

The cultivation of the moral faculty is a religious 
duty. It is enjoined in the divine command, " Keep 
thy heart with all diligence j" 1 and it cannot be per- 
formed aright, unless performed with reference to the 
authority of God. The moral faculty in its highest 
exercise is the religious faculty ; and if it is not made 
subservient to religion, the grand purpose of the endow- . 
ment is not attained. The religious obligation to « grow 
in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ," 2 binds us to cultivate all our moral 
powers, and use them to the glory of God. He who 
aims to improve them with some other end in view, is 
misdirecting the best energies of his nature ; and what- 
ever else he may attain, he cannot secure the favor of 
God. 

The means of improving the moral faculty may be 
advantageously considered, with a distinct reference to 
its several offices. 

1 Prov. iv. 23. 2 2 Pet. iii. 18. 

7 



74 MORAL FACULTY. 

1. The discriminating power of conscience may be 
improved, by a diligent study of God's will, in the 
various methods in which it is made known to us. The 
voice of conscience within is one mode in which God 
speaks to us ; and, therefore, its language should be 
heeded. The same voice speaks in the breasts of other 
men ; and their moral judgments may assist us to cor- 
rect our own. The law written in the heart by the 
finger of the Creator, has been defaced and obscured ; 
and, to obtain a knowledge of the original writing, it is 
better to examine the mutilated copies of it found in 
many hearts, than to rely on one of these mutilated 
copies exclusively. But the voice of God, in his works 
and in his word, makes known his will with more clear- 
ness and certainty. God overrules the sequences of 
nature ; and we may often learn what actions are in 
accordance with his will, by observing their tendencies 
and results. But the clearest revelation of his will, is 
in his holy word ; and by the study of this, above every 
other means, we may become wise to distinguish be- 
tween right and wrong. 

The means of moral cultivation may be applied in 
parental instruction. The wise man has said, "Train 
up a child in the way he should go ; and when he is old, 
he will not depart from it." 1 Those children who are 
under the care of wise and pious parents, enjoy ad- 
vantages for moral improvement which are above all 
price. The best models of virtue ought to be carefully 
studied ; such as are exhibited in the lives of men emi- 
nent for their virtue, and especially in the life and 
character of Jesus Christ. Moral essays may be read, 
and systems of moral science may be studied, to great 
advantage. But the best light to assist our moral dis- 

1 Prov. xxii. 6. 



ITS IMPROVEMENT. 75 

criminations, is obtained from the word and Spirit of 
God. If we take his word for our guide, and humbly 
pray for the aid of the Holy Spirit in the study of it, 
we may confidently hope to be led in the right way. 

The study of moral distinctions is not all that we 
need. No one becomes a skilful musician, by the mere 
study of musical science ; but long and laborious prac- 
tice is requisite. So the promptness of moral discrimi- 
nation, which is needed in the active business of life, 
cannot be acquired but by practice. We should accus- 
tom ourselves to moral investigations, until we acquire 
facility in making them, and until our moral vision, like 
a practised eye, can distinguish readily and clearly, 
what, to the less practised, is covered with obscurity. 

2. The tendency to form moral judgments may be 
promoted or checked by habit. 

Actions may be contemplated with admiration, be- 
cause of their skill, their daring, or their laborious and 
patient perseverance. In our admiration of these 
qualities, we may wholly overlook the moral quality 
which the actions contain ; and, if we frequently esti- 
mate actions by some other than their moral quality, 
we shall form a habit of doing so. This will render us 
less observant of that highest quality, on which, more 
than any other, the true worth of actions depends. On 
the other hand, if we allow no lustre which may attend 
an action, so to dazzle our eyes as to blind us to its 
moral quality, we shall acquire the habit of estimating 
actions by a moral standard. This habit is necessary 
to virtue. The keenest moral discernment will avail 
nothing, if it is not used ; as good eyes do not profit, 
if they are kept closed. If we would be virtuous, we 
should accustom ourselves to ask concerning every 
action, Is it right? Whatever profit or pleasure it 
may yield, and whatever admiration of gaping beholders 



76 MORAL FACULTY. 

it may excite, we should instantly and firmly estimate 
its worth by its moral quality. 

3. Our moral sensibility may be increased or lessened 
by habit. 

In our first contact with vice, we are perhaps shocked 
with its odiousness ; but, if we allow ourselves to become 
familiar with it, our aversion subsides, and, in the lan- 
guage of Pope, " we first endure, then pity, then em- 
brace." This tendency of habit to blunt the moral 
sensibility may be illustrated by innumerable examples. 
The first oath startles him who utters it, the first lie is 
pronounced with trembling tongue, and the first theft 
is committed with trepidation — but repetition inspires 
courage, and hardens the heart. Thus the stripling, 
who first transgressed with hesitation and fear, becomes 
a monster of vice, sinning without remorse. 

On the other hand, moral sensibility is increased by 
virtuous habit. Self-approbation, in its earliest exer- 
cise, is attended with pleasure ; but, as we make pro- 
gress in virtue, the pleasure becomes greatly enhanced. 
Unlike the pleasures of sense, it never cloys. The 
self-approving mind enjoys a continual feast, and with 
a constantly-increasing relish. This tendency of virtue 
to quicken our sensibility to moral pleasure, renders 
immortality unspeakably attractive to the good man. 
He rejoices to know that the pure and perennial fountain 
of delight, which is now springing up in his breast, will 
rise, and continue to rise, to life eternal. 

4. The impulse to virtuous action may be strength- 
ened or weakened by habit. 

If we yield to the impulses of appetite, passion, and 
self-love, 'these impulses acquire strength. Tire ine- 
briate, when he first tasted the intoxicating cup, was 
free from its enslaving power — but he is free no longer. 
Habit has bound him in chains, and delivered him up, 



ITS IMPROVEMENT. 77 

body and soul, to the merciless tyrant. The miser at 
first felt but little love for the dime which he first 
hoarded, but the habit of gain has given overpowering 
strength to the avaricious propensity which now rules 
in his breast with resistless sway. While these im- 
pulses gain strength by indulgence, the impulse to 
virtue grows weak by neglect. At first it presented a 
barrier, but the fence has been gradually thrown down, 
until the unlawful propensities roam at large in the 
soul, and hold undisputed possession. Such is the 
progress of vice. 

The progress of virtue, though in the opposite direc- 
tion, is made in a similar manner. The impulse to 
virtue becomes strengthened by successful conflict with 
the lower propensities. Every victory increases its 
power, and weakens the opposing forces, until progress 
in the right way becomes easy. They who travel in 
this road go on from strength to strength, and difficul- 
ties and opposition retire before them. Happy are 
they who gain this victory, having crucified the flesh 
with its affections and lusts. 

The extent to which the moral faculty may be im- 
proved is indefinite. The intellect of man roams 
abroad through the universe, and finds no boundary to 
the increase of knowledge. Equally boundless is the 
prospect which opens before the moral faculty. The 
possibility of progress in virtue has no limit. Habit 
strengthens the impulse to virtuous actions, increases 
the moral sensibility, and promotes the tendency to 
form moral judgments. As the good man makes pro- 
gress in virtue, his eye is more fixed on its beauty, his 
heart is more ravished with its charms, and his feet 
move in the delightful road with accelerated speed. 
It becomes his meat and drink to do good; and, in 
7* 



78 MOEAL FACULTY. 

fulfilling the will of God, he enjoys heaven begun on 
earth. 

Alike interminable is the dark prospect before the 
transgressor. The virtuous impulse, habitually resisted, 
ceases to operate, until he becomes lost to virtue. 
Even in the present life, some, as we have reason to 
believe, are given up to hardness of heart, and are 
therefore beyond hope. In these, the indulged propen- 
sities have the mastery of the soul ; and often, like the 
foul spirits which possessed the ancient demoniacs, rend 
it with keen anguish. These propensities find some 
indulgence in the present life, and therefore present 
misery is not complete ; but at death they will be sepa- 
rated for ever from the objects of their craving. What 
then will be left ? The pleasure arising from self- 
approbation has gone, even in the present life, and 
remorse and foreboding horror fill the breast. Some- 
times, indeed, remorse sleeps, because the moral sensi- 
bility has become benumbed. But conscience is im- 
mortal, and, in the future world, will be found to be 
the worm that dieth not, preying for ever on the vitals 
of the lost. Even before death, the stupefied con- 
science sometimes awakes, and begins its work of tor- 
ture. In the chamber of the dying sinner, the excla- 
mation has been heard : " Oh, the insufferable pangs 
of hell and damnation!" Such outbursts from the 
world of woe sometimes meet the wicked, as the door 
of their eternal prison opens to receive them. 



CHAPTER IV. 
VIRTUE. 



SECTION I. IN GENERAL. 

Virtue, or moral rectitude, is conformity to moral 
obligation. Some persons restrict the use of the term 
to such actions as are beneficial to men, and distinguish 
it from piety or duty to God ; but the use of it for all 
duty, both to God and men, has the authority of good 
writers. Nor does its signification include external 
acts only ; for we speak of virtuous affections, as well 
as virtuous actions. 

Our moral obligations are founded on the authority 
of God, the moral governor of the universe ; and hence, 
his commandment or expressed will is the rule of obli- 
gation. Affections and actions are virtuous, which con- 
form to the will of God. He commands that we should 
love God with all the heart, and our neighbor as our- 
selves. This law is the proper standard of virtuous 
affections ; and such actions are virtuous as flow from 
these affections. 

Love cannot be exercised toward an object of which 
we have no knowledge. The virtuous mind enlarges 
the sphere of its affections, as its knowledge increases. 
The relations which we bear to our neighbors are 
various; and the virtuous affection prompts to various 
courses of action, corresponding to these several rela- 
5 (79) 



80 VIRTUE. 

tions. In the progress of life, our relations multiply ; 
and the field for virtuous action accordingly enlarges. 
As knowledge extends to beings before unknown, the 
heart finds new objects to love ; and, as new relations 
are discovered, the expanding love prompts to new 
methods of doing good. Hence, our progress in virtue 
is as illimitable as our progress in knowledge. 

We have before seen that the moral faculty is capable 
of indefinite improvement ; and we have now discovered 
that the scope for virtue is perpetually enlarging, with 
the increase of knowledge, and the multiplication of 
our relations. The exercise of virtue becomes increas- 
ingly easy and delightful ; and the opportunities for its 
exercise are indefinitely multiplying. 

SECTION II. IN IMPERFECT BEINGS. 

We enter on life without knowledge ; but we have 
faculties for acquiring it, which are brought into exer- 
cise from the commencement of our being. We find 
ourselves surrounded by other beings, to whom we sus- 
tain such relations, that we cannot exist without them, 
nor act or think, but with reference to them. We are 
at first incapable of comprehending these relations ; 
but we acquire knowledge of them as our minds expand; 
and this progress of knowledge continues during life. 

Our relations to other beings furnish occasions for 
the exercise of the moral faculty, so far as they become 
known. Hence, moral obligation increases as our 
knowledge increases. The services which are due to 
mankind from persons of mature years, children are 
incapable of rendering. They neither comprehend 
their relations to others, nor understand the modes of 
doing good in these several relations. Imperfection of 
knowledge, in both these respects, limits their obliga- 
tions. 



IN IMPERFECT BEINGS. 81 

But the limit of obligation is not determined by the 
actual knowledge which we possess, if greater know- 
ledge were possible, and we have failed to attain it 
through criminal negligence. We are under obligation 
to employ all our powers in doing good. We are bound 
to use the intellect aright, as well as the hands ; and 
if we have failed to use it for the accomplishment of 
the greatest possible good, we are so far blame-worthy. 
Hence, our obligations are determined, not by the 
actual knowledge which we possess, but by that which 
we might have attained, if our minds had been intent 
on doing good above everything else. 

Our moral judgments are dependent on our know- 
ledge ; and therefore imperfection of knowledge neces- 
sarily produces imperfection of conscience. But fur- 
ther imperfection of conscience may arise from other 
causes. As we fail to attain knowledge, through a 
defect in the virtuous impulse which moves to intellec- 
tual exercise, so, through a like defect in the virtuous 
impulse, we fail to use aright the imperfect knowledge 
which we have acquired. We do not study the moral 
quality of actions with requisite solicitude ; and there- 
fore it is imperfectly discovered. The moral quality 
discovered does not affect our moral sensibility as it 
ought, because that sensibility is imperfect. Hence the 
quickness and intenseness of our moral approbation or 
disapprobation, are not proportionate even to our imper- 
fect discovery of the moral quality. And lastly, the 
moral impulse to do right, exhibits a still further defect ; 
for we often see and approve the right, and follow the 
wrong. 

In imperfect beings, the virtuous impulse operates 
defectively in all the ways which have been mentioned ; 
and at the same time, the impulse of appetite, passion, 
and self-love operate with their full power. These gain 



82 VIRTUE. 

strength by habit, and the virtuous impulse becomes less 
and less able to resist them. Every surrender which it 
makes, prepares it to yield afterwards with less conflict ; 
and this is "the course of this world," in which men 
fulfil « the desires of the flesh and of the mind," * and 
yield themselves up the slaves of sin. 

The deficiency of our virtue cannot be correctly 
estimated by our consciousness of it. The imperfection 
of knowledge, the imperfect discernment of the moral 
quality, and the imperfect sensibility of the moral 
faculty, all combine to prevent or lessen our conviction 
of wrong. Hence many imagine themselves to be vir- 
tuous who would start up with alarm at a discovery of 
their true character. This was Paul's experience : "I 
was alive without the law once ; but when the command- 
ment came, sin revived, and I died." 2 

So far as the means of knowledge and improvement 
in virtue are within our reach, we are responsible for 
the right use of them. For all the knowledge which 
we would have attained, and for all the virtuous habits 
which we would have acquired, if every impulse to vir- 
tue had been perfect from the origin of our being, we 
are now responsible. By this rule we must measure 
our present obligations ; and by this mode of compu- 
tation we may learn the alarming truth, that our guilt 
is accumulating perpetually, and with accelerated 
speed. Every past failure renders us less able to 
fulfil the next requirement, and makes the next failure 
greater. 

An imperfect being may be conscious of his moral 
condition ; and may, with penitence for past failures, 
make efforts at reformation. But his penitence and 
reformation are present duties ; and, being the result 

1 Eph. ii. 2, 3. 2 Kom. vii. 9. 



RELATION TO HABIT. 83 

of imperfect conviction, are not equal to the measure 
of present obligation. Hence, instead of supplying the 
defect, their imperfection adds to the amount of the 
failure. Such is the condition of fallen man. No peni- 
tence or efforts at reformation can restore him to per- 
fect virtue ; much less can they make amends for his 
past disobedience to the authority of God. In this 
hopeless condition the gospel of Christ finds him, and 
offers him the only possible salvation. 

SECTION III. RELATION TO HABIT. 

The power of habit to produce facility of action is 
truly wonderful. The child, about the close of his first 
year, totters over the carpet, and puts one foot before 
the other with hesitating and laborious effort. The 
power of habit transforms him, after a time, into a play- 
ful boy, running and leaping with speed, grace, and 
fearless thoughtlessness. When the organs of speech 
begin their action, sounds are formed with difficulty ; 
and some of the consonants are not properly uttered, 
until months have passed in frequent and painstaking 
effort. But a few years of practice converts this fal- 
tering learner of simple sounds, into a fluent speaker, 
at whose will the organs of speech move with rapidity 
and accuracy, and pour forth words with the copi- 
ousness and rapidity of a torrent, and with the precision 
of new coin from the mint. 

Habit not only gives the mind that command over 
the muscles of the body, which is exemplified in running, 
and speaking, and in all the arts and business of life ; 
but it also greatly facilitates operations which are purely 
mental. Long processes of profound reasoning are 
rendered possible by habit ; and habit enables the 
mind, which once reasoned out its little deductions with 
the slowness and hesitation of the tottering infant in its 



84 VIRTUE. 

first steps, to hasten to its conclusions with lightning 
speed. 

In a large part of human actions, men could not take 
time for long deliberation, without losing the oppor- 
tunity for acting ; but the want of time is made up by 
the facility which the power of habit produces. In the 
ordinary course of life, we commonly act from habit, 
with very little thought. No man who walks a mile, 
thinks on the way which foot he shall next advance, 
and which muscle he shall next put in motion. So our 
moral decisions are, for the most part, made under the 
influence of habit with very little thought. 

But are men responsible who move on thoughtlessly 
under the influence of habit? If habit destroyed re- 
sponsibility, invincible habits of vice would render a 
man perfectly blameless ; or, in other words, consum- 
mated vice would be pure virtue. Men are responsible 
for their habits, and all their consequences ; and hence, 
the formation of virtuous habits is an important part 
of human duty. We should study and act with a con- 
stant reference to self-improvement in this particular. 
Every duty should be performed, not merely for the 
sake of the good which it may effect to others, but also 
for the sake of its benefit to ourselves, in strengthening 
and establishing the habit of virtue. In some cases, 
this last consideration is alone a sufficient motive for 
action. When a beggar asks alms, we may sometimes 
doubt whether by giving we shall supply real want, or 
reward a false pretence ; but, having no means at hand 
for settling this question, we decide to give for our 
own sakes, to strengthen the habit of benevolence. 

Habits of thought should be guarded, as well as 
habits of action. Trains of thought may not startle us, 
unless we see them approaching to some wrong action, 
but it does not follow that they are harmless. Licen- 



RELATION TO HAPPINESS. 85 

tious imagination and unlawful desire may be strength- 
ened by the power of habit, while all their movements 
are strictly confined within the mental domain ; and the 
paths in which they move may become a trodden high- 
way, overspreading and hardening the heart. If we 
would be virtuous, we must keep our hearts with all 
diligence. 

SECTION IV. RELATION TO HAPPINESS. 

We are so constituted as to derive pleasure from sur- 
rounding objects. Our senses are inlets through which 
pleasure flows in upon us from the commencement of 
our being. The food which nature provides for the 
sustenance of the infant gives pleasure to the sense of 
taste. The warmth of the mother's bosom, and the 
soft touch of her breast, give pleasure to the sense of 
feeling. In a short time the other senses derive plea- 
sure from beautiful colors, melodious sounds, and fra- 
grant odors. The world is a great storehouse of 
pleasure, and the young sentient being enters it with 
capacities precisely adapted to enjoy the rich and 
boundless variety which the Creator's bounty has 
provided. 

Although all the senses find appropriate objects to 
gratify them, the stream of gratification is not flowing 
into every sense incessantly. The infant does not need 
to receive the mother's milk without intermission, and, 
by a wise arrangement, the pleasure of receiving it 
ceases at the proper point of time ; but subsequently, 
by another wise arrangement, a desire arises, preparing 
for another supply of the delicious nectar, and enhanc- 
ing the pleasure which the draught affords. This 
desire operates before the infant's mind is capable of 
conceiving the object desired. But as the mental 
faculties are developed and brought into exercise, con- 
8 



86 VIRTUES. 

ceptions of agreeable objects awaken desire, which 
prompts to efforts for obtaining gratification, and in- 
creases the gratification when obtained. Few of our 
pleasures come upon us unexpectedly, and therefore 
the chief part of our enjoyment consists in the gratifi- 
cation of desire. 

Desire itself becomes a source of enjoyment, when 
accompanied with a hope of attaining the object desired. 
The mind forms a conception, not only of the object 
itself, but also of the pleasure which it will yield us ; 
and this pleasure becomes associated, in the imagina- 
tion, with every step of our progress in acquiring it. 
Hence, it often happens that the pleasure of anticipa- 
tion is greater than that which is derived from the 
actual possession of the object desired. 

Our minds are capable of entertaining innumerable 
forms of desire, besides those which have immediate 
respect to sensual gratification. Among these may be 
enumerated the desire of society, of knowledge, of 
power, of wealth, and of fame. These desires move us 
to action. The very action of our mental and corporeal 
powers seems to be productive of pleasure ; but the 
pleasure is greatly increased by the co-operating influ- 
ence of desire, which in some way attends every move- 
ment. 

The proof is abundant that God designed to make 
provision for human happiness. He created all the 
objects around us, and created within us the suscepti- 
bilities adapted to derive pleasure from them ; and he 
has so established our connection with them, that the 
enjoyment comes on us necessarily. We cannot live 
and move without it. It is, therefore, manifestly the 
will of God that we should derive pleasure from the 
objects which he has created capable of affording it. 
That any object can give us pleasure is a sufficient 



RELATION TO HAPPINESS. 87 

reason for using it, unless there is some reason to the 
contrary. If one course of action will yield more plea- 
sure than another, we do right to prefer it, unless some 
reason to the contrary requires a different decision. 

Experience teaches men that it is unwise to give 
themselves up without restraint to the pleasures of the 
present moment. Present indulgence unfits, in many 
cases, for future enjoyment. He who eats to excess 
impairs his health, and renders himself unfit, not only 
for many other enjoyments of life, but even for the 
pleasures of the table. Innumerable cases occur in 
which a prudent regard for our own happiness requires 
abstinence from present indulgence. It is, therefore, 
manifestly the will of God that there should be a limit 
to the indulgence of present gratification. Happiness 
is continual pleasure ; and, to attain the highest degree 
of it, we must not seek the highest gratification of any 
one moment, disregarding every other moment of life. 
The happiness of life is the sum of enjoyment through- 
out its whole duration, and prudence teaches us to have 
respect to the whole. 

In the experience of life, many occasions occur for 
choosing, not only between pleasures of like kind at 
different moments, but also between pleasures of un- 
like kind at the same moment. I may spend an hour 
at a banquet, or I may prefer to enjoy for that hour 
the society of a valued friend. I may seize an 
opportunity to indulge my desire of wealth by taking 
advantage of my neighbor, or I may prefer the pleasure 
of an approving conscience. In making the choice in 
such cases, a regard even to the present moment will 
often be sufficient to determine in favor of virtue, but 
the weight in virtue's scale becomes greatly increased 
when the future is included with the present. The 
banquet will yield me no lasting advantage, but the 



88 VIRTUE. 

prudent counsel of my valued friend may benefit me 
greatly through all future life. The dishonest gain 
which I have an opportunity to make, can at the most 
increase a little my store of uncertain riches ; but an 
approving conscience, free from the enduring pangs of 
biting remorse, is a richer source of pleasure than 
mines of gold. A prudent regard for our own happi- 
ness is sufficient to give a decided preference to virtue 
above vice. 

We have seen that he who seeks his happiness by 
aiming at the highest possible gratification of each 
moment, fails of his object. God's arrangements inter- 
pose an obstacle, and forbid that happiness should be 
sought in this way. In like manner, he who intently 
pursues his own happiness, regardless of the happiness 
of others, fails to attain his object. Here another 
obstacle is presented. If I existed alone in the uni- 
verse, connected in no manner with any other being, I 
might find no obstacle to the direct pursuit of my own 
happiness ; but God has placed me in society, and fixed 
me in such relations to himself and my fellow-creatures, 
that I am obliged to have regard to the interests of 
others. If I seek my own happiness exclusively, I 
cannot succeed. I enter into conflict with the interests 
of all others ; and, with the universe against me, and 
God against me, success is impossible. God's arrange- 
ments make happiness the reward, not of him who pur- 
sues happiness, but of him who pursues virtue. Virtue 
tends to the happiness of society ; and man, formed for 
society, is required to seek the good of the whole. He 
who seeks his own good, apart from that of all others, 
and he who seeks the gratification of the present mo- 
ment, apart from that of every other moment of life, 
are alike foolishly opposing the plans of God, and at- 
tempting impossibilities. 



KELATION TO HAPPINESS. 89 

We have seen that we cannot attain happiness by- 
being engrossed in the direct pursuit of it. This point 
may be rendered clearer by a further inquiry into the 
nature of our impulses. 

I. No mere impulse, however strong, can insure 
gratification. 

Appetite seeks present gratification, but it does not 
give capacity for it. The susceptibility of gratification 
is distinct from the appetite which impels to it. We 
can conceive of an animal fitted to receive food with 
pleasure, as the earth drinks the shower when it comes, 
but having no memory of past, and no desire for future 
gratification. On the other hand, we can conceive of 
an animal tortured with hunger, but incapable of de- 
riving pleasure from food when obtained. Since the 
impulse may exist without the susceptibility of gratifi- 
cation, the presence of the impulse is not of itself suffi- 
cient to insure gratification. 

Self-love impels to the pursuit of happiness, but it 
does not contain in itself the susceptibility of happiness. 
The prudence which it brings into exercise, selects the 
enjoyments to be preferred, but does not create them. 
We can imagine an earnest longing for happiness, with 
an inability to enjoy it : and such cases are not wholly 
imaginary. Few persons are so happy as never to ex- 
perience this state of mind ; and, in some of melancholy 
disposition, it is almost habitual. We see, therefore, 
that the impulse to seek happiness gives not the suscep- 
tibility of enjoying it. 

II. The lower impulses best attain their own object, 
when they act in subordination to the higher. 

Appetite impels to present gratification ; but the 

highest gratification is not obtained by the continued 

excitement and indulgence of the appetite. The 

laborer eats his food with keener relish than the glut- 

8* 



90 VIRTUE. 

ton. The glutton, by devoting himself to the pleasure 
of eating, not only unfits himself for other enjoyments, 
but actually enjoys the pleasures of the table less than 
he does who subjects the impulse of appetite to the 
higher impulse of self-love — that is, to the control of 
prudence. 

In like manner, the impulse of self-love best attains 
the happiness at which it aims, by acting in subordina- 
tion to the higher impulse of conscience. This is 
exemplified in such cases as the following: — 

1. A man may obey self-love in opposition to con- 
science. In this case his action is vicious, ancf must be 
followed, sooner or later, with the evil consequences of 
vice. According to the divine arrangements, vice has 
an inevitable tendency to produce misery ; and he who 
acts viciously under the impulse of self-love, must 
endure this misery. On the other hand, the gratifica- 
tion at which self-love aims, is uncertain. They who 
most eagerly pursue happiness, frequently find disap- 
pointment in the progress, and vexation of spirit at the 
end of their course. 

2. A man may, in obedience to self-love, perform the 
acts which conscience requires. In this case his act is, 
in form, virtuous ; but, not being performed in obedi- 
ence to conscience, it cannot yield the pleasure of con- 
scious virtue. This course, therefore, does not secure 
the highest happiness. If it escapes the penalty of 
vice from the external arrangements of Providence, it 
does not obtain within the breast the moral rewards of 
virtue, and will not obtain the final approbation of the 
Great Judge, and the reward of everlasting happiness. 

3. A man may subject his lower impulses to the im- 
pulse of conscience, and do what is right, because it is 
right. In this case he secures the external advantages 
of virtue, its present internal rewards, and the future 



RELATION TO HAPPINESS. 91 

reward which God has promised. This is the highest 
happiness possible. Self-love can aim at nothing 
higher ; and hence, self-love best attains its object when 
it yields the supremacy to conscience. 

The subordination of the lower impulses is necessary 
to the moral health of the soul. When the appetites 
and passions burst through the restraints of prudence, 
and when self-love rejects the authority of conscience, 
the soul is diseased. The disorder gathers strength 
from the power of habit. Some diseases of the body 
have a tendency to effect their own cure, and to fortify 
the system against the possibility of their return ; but 
the disease of the soul ever tends to wax worse and 
worse. Its progress, like that of bodily disease, is ever 
attended with pain, and its fatal termination is death 
eternal. We need a remedy which nature cannot 
afford ; and a physician whose knowledge extends infi- 
nitely beyond the boundaries of our moral science. 

From the preceding discussions, the following rules 
of conduct may be deduced: — 

1. It is right to seek the highest gratification of the 
present moment, when no higher obligation forbids. 

2. A prudent regard for our own happiness ought to 
control the gratification of the present moment, and to 
direct our conduct, when no higher obligation opposes. 

3. The pursuit of individual happiness should be 
conducted in subordination to the general good ; and 
such actions as promote the general good, are to be 
accounted virtuous, when we have no express command 
of God to regulate our conduct. 

SECTION V. INSUFFICIENCY OF CONSCIENCE 
TO PRODUCE PERFECT VIRTUE. 

Causes. 
The lower impulses of our minds are not in subjec- 



92 VIRTUE. 

tion to conscience, as they ought to be. In this fact, 
and in the crimes which proceed from it, the depravity 
of mankind appears. When the first man came forth 
in moral symmetry and beauty from the creating hand 
of God, all the powers of his mind were in due subjec- 
tion to conscience ; but a rebellion has taken place, and 
the lower propensities have cast off the allegiance due 
to the presiding impulse, and now frequently tread it 
under foot. Every man has a consciousness that his 
breast is not the perpetual abode of that peace and 
order which belong to perfect virtue ; and hence, from 
the testimony of universal consciousness, man is a 
fallen and depraved being. It is a deeply interesting 
inquiry, whether conscience has sufficient power to 
regain its lost dominion, and restore the order of per- 
fect virtue. Its insufficiency for the accomplishment 
of this, appears in two important particulars. 

I. Conscience fails because of defect in the strength 
of its impulse. 

In a perfectly virtuous mind, the impulses are so 
adjusted as to operate in harmony; but depravity has 
introduced disorder into the movements of the human 
mind. The impulse of conscience has been weakened, 
and the lower impulses have acquired disproportional 
strength. Habit increases the strength of the powers 
which are most used ; and hence, the lower propensi- 
ties gather strength faster than conscience ; and the 
departure from the proper adjustment, is constantly 
increasing. To subdue the unduly increased power of 
the lower impulses, conscience needs a strength beyond 
what it would have acquired, had it maintained its 
authority, and kept them under control. But its 
strength has increased less than if it had continued to 
exercise its proper authority. It has, therefore, more 
work to accomplish, with less strength for accomplishing 



INSUFFICIENCY OF CONSCIENCE. 93 

it. The advantage in the struggle is against it ; and 
this advantage in favor of the lower propensities, the 
power of habit is perpetually increasing. The disorder 
which sin has introduced into our mental powers, tends 
to spread ; and conscience has not power to expel it. 
Hence, every man who understands his moral condition, 
may well adopt the language of Paul — " I am carnal, 
sold under sin. * * * wretched man that I am ! 
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" 1 

II. Conscience fails through defect of knowledge. 

The impulse of conscience is never contrary to our 
moral judgment. If there is a primary impulse of 
conscience, antecedent to the exercise of moral judg- 
ment, it consists in an elementary benevolent affection, 
which is not directed to any definite result until our 
relations to other beings begin to be understood. It is 
then directed in its exercise by moral judgment, formed 
on the knowledge of these relations. Hence, moral 
judgment, if not necessary to the existence of the 
moral impulse, is necessary to its exercise; and moral 
judgment cannot be formed without knowledge. 

The perfectly virtuous mind acts under an impulse to 
regard the moral quality of actions above every other 
quality, and to estimate the knowledge of duty more 
highly than all other knowledge. This impulse directs 
the intellectual powers to acquire, from all possible 
sources, such knowledge as is needed to determine what 
is right. The same virtuous impulse causes all the 
knowledge thus acquired, to be employed in forming 
moral judgments ; and directs the subsequent actions in 
perfect conformity with these moral judgments. In the 
depraved mind, the connection at every link in this 
chain of sequences is weakened. The impulse to vir- 

1 Rom. vii. 14, 24. 



94 VIRTUE. 

tuous action, though it takes the direction pointed out 
by the moral judgment, does not move with the proper 
momentum. The moral judgment is formed sluggishly 
and negligently, without the proper use of all the 
knowledge actually possessed. And the amount of 
knowledge actually possessed is less than that which was 
possible, and which ought to have been acquired. Con- 
science cannot do its work without knowledge ; and it 
must fail, when the knowledge is defective, and when 
even this defective knowledge is not duly employed. 

Consequences. 

The failure of conscience to control the lower pro- 
pensities yields to these the government of the soul ; 
and men, instead of fulfilling their moral obligations 
according to the will of God, fulfil the desires of the 
flesh and of the mind. These propensities have their 
power strengthened by habit, and their dominion be- 
comes firmly established. Habit tends to produce a 
fixed state. The longer men continue in the way of 
transgression, the more hopeless their moral state 
becomes. So the Scriptures teach : " Can the Ethio- 
pian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? Then 
may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." 1 

But why has our benevolent Creator given such fatal 
power to habit ? Why do the sins of youth and man- 
hood bind in chains the aged transgressor, and render 
him a hopeless captive? We are admonished by this 
arrangement in the constitution of the human mind, 
that the present life is a state of probation. Here only 
is change of moral character possible, and here we see 
a constant tendency to fixedness of state, and are per- 
petually warned that the time within which change can 

1 Jer. xiii. 23. 



INSUFFICIENCY OF CONSCIENCE. 95 

take place is rapidly passing away. Youth is a period 
of probation for manhood, manhood is a period of pro- 
bation for old age : and youth, manhood, and old age, 
all constitute the probation for eternity. That this 
probation may terminate happily, the power of habit 
should be gained over to virtue's side. If youth be 
devoted to virtue, it will prepare for a virtuous and 
useful manhood — the hoary head will become a crown 
of glory — and the whole life will be ended with an 
assured hope of receiving, in the life to come, a crown 
of never-fading lustre. 

The law of our mental constitution which gives habit 
its power, while it teaches that we are in a state of 
probation, assures us that we are under the moral 
government of Grod, rewarding or punishing us accord- 
ing to our works. We reap, even in the present life, 
according to what we sow. The practice of virtue 
gives virtuous habits, with all their beneficial effects ; 
the practice of vice gives vicious habits, with all their 
baneful effects. If habit binds the sinner in chains, 
his guilt has been accumulating while habit has been 
gaining its power; and not until his cup of iniquity is 
full, does he pass the limit of probation. 

In a sinner's progress, his conscience does not testify 
fully either to the deterioration of his moral character, 
or the accumulation of his guilt. His moral judgment 
fails through want of knowledge, or through neglect to 
use properly the knowledge which he possesses. Hence 
he is not conscious of his true condition. Conscience 
is not only weakened and defiled, but it also becomes 
benumbed, or, in the language of Scripture, " seared 
with a hot iron." 1 A growing insensibility of con- 



1 1 Tim. iv. 2. 



96 VIRTUE. 

science is an alarming symptom of moral disease, a pre- 
cursor of eternal death. 

Conscience not only testifies to our moral character, 
but it also rewards and punishes. It rewards with self- 
approbation, and punishes with remorse. But the 
sinner's conscience fails, not only in its testimony, but 
also in its retribution. It does not punish with remorse 
equal to the measure of his guilt ; and sometimes, when 
the guilt is most aggravated, remorse seems to sleep 
most profoundly. But God never sleeps, and natural 
religion and revelation testify that his judgments slumber 
not. In the course of nature, the consequences of crime 
follow regardless of the sinner's insensibility. Men 
may, in heathen lands, be ignorant that idolatry, poly- 
gamy, and infanticide, are crimes ; but the natural 
consequences of these evils appear in their effects on 
society. God teaches what is right and wrong, whether 
men will learn or not ; and he gives assurance that his 
moral government is not hindered by man's ignorance 
or perverseness. In his final judgment, it will be more 
tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those who 
sin under the light of the gospel ; but all may learn, 
from his dispensations in the present life, that his justice 
is inflexible, and that the present retributions of con- 
science, while they warn us of the judgment to come, 
do not determine its character, or indicate its terrible 
severity. The most intolerable anguish that conscience 
ever inflicts, in the present life, is a drop from the cup 
of God's displeasure. Who will estimate the full mea- 
sure of suffering, when the most guilty shall be made to 
drink the whole cup of divine wrath ? 



CHAPTER V. 
KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 



SECTION I. MORAL LAW. 

Moral law is a proposition, or series of propositions, 
defining men's obligations. It is therefore a rule by 
which duty may be known. 

The term law properly belongs to the department of 
morals ; but in a transferred sense, it is used in physi- 
cal science. The difference of its signification in the 
two uses of it, deserves to be considered. 

The term denotes primarily the command of a 
governor, promulgated in language, as a rule of conduct 
for those whom he governs. It is a form of words pre- 
scribing the duty of the governed. Moral obligation 
may exist when not expressed in words ; but moral law 
is properly an expression of this obligation, in language 
either spoken or written. But the term is frequently 
applied to obligation that is not so expressed. So Paul 
speaks of the moral obligation felt by the Gentiles as a 
laV in their hearts ; yet, even in this case, he calls it a 
"law written." 1 Though not literally expressed in 
words, it is conceived to be so expressed, and written 
out as the laws of kings were written on tablets for the 
observance of their subjects. Moral law is properly 
the will of God, expressed in language, or conceived to 

1 Rom. ii. 15. 
9 (97) 



98 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

be so expressed, for the government of intelligent 
creatures. Physical law governs unintelligent matter ; 
and it is the will of God, not expressed in language 
for the observance of rational and moral agents, but 
executed by himself in his providential government of 
the world. 

Physical law is an established order of sequence in 
physical events ; thus, it is a physical law, or law of 
nature, that water, if exposed to a high degree of heat, 
will be converted into steam. 1 

The order of sequence denoted by physical law, is 
established and invariable. Water is not sometimes 
converted by high heat into steam, and at other times 
into ice ; nor does it require a different degree of heat 
at different times to effect the change. Nature's laws 
are uniform ; and all physical agents obey them per- 
fectly. But moral agents often violate moral law ; and 
hence an important distinction between moral and physi- 
cal law appears, in that one is violable, and the other 
inviolable. 

We cannot preserve the analogy between moral and 
physical law, by referring moral law to the order of 
sequence between a moral action and its consequences. 
Moral law is a rule, not for regulating the consequence 
of an action, but for regulating the action itself; and 

1 All physical law refers to sequence, and never to mere mode 
of existence. The law that a body at rest will continue at re^t, 
unless compelled by some force to change its state, may appear to 
be an exception. It does not, however, refer to the mere mode of 
existence, but to the continuance of that mode. A simple state- 
ment, that the body is at rest, will suffice to describe its mode of 
existence, but it will not express a law of nature. For the latter 
purpose the words " will continue" are needed ; and these denote 
sequence when the mode of existence continues the same, as much 
as if it underwent a change. 



MORAL LAW. 99 

the observance or violation of it is complete as soon as 
the action is performed, and before the consequence 
follows. The consequences of moral actions follow these 
actions by divine appointment, as physical effects follow 
their causes ; and are, in the established course of 
things, inevitable. A man who commits crime has no 
more reason to expect exemption from its consequences, 
than one who thrusts his hand into the fire, to expect 
exemption from burning. If moral law denoted the 
order of sequence between actions and their conse- 
quences, none but God could violate it ; since he only 
can change the order of nature which he has estab- 
lished. 

Moral and physical law are not different species of 
one genus denoted by the general term law; and 
hence, any attempt to ascertain what moral law is from 
the use of the term law, in physics, will be liable to 
mislead. The term law properly belongs to morals, 
and has in morals its proper signification. In physics 
it is used in a transferred sense, and strict identity of 
meaning in the two different uses of it cannot be safely 
assumed. 

Natural philosophy aims to ascertain the laws of 
nature by classifying its phenomena and observing 
their order of sequence. But moral philosophy does 
not ascertain what moral law is, by classifying human 
actions and their consequences. It views these actions 
in their relation to God and the moral government 
which he exercises over the world. The consequences 
of actions follow by divine appointment, and a know- 
ledge of them may assist us in ascertaining the will of 
God; but his will binds us irrespective of those conse- 
quences ; and the investigations of moral philosophy 
are incomplete until every available means of learning 
what the will of God is has been duly employed. 



100 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

Moral science does not teach men their duty, by 
directing what particular act shall be performed at 
each moment of life. A master may, in the morning, 
command his servant what to do at each hour of the 
day; and the servant may, almost without the exercise 
of reason, execute the appointed tasks in their chrono- 
logical order. If there were a science which prescribed 
men's duties in this manner, so that they could be 
known at the proper time by the mere exercise of 
memory, that science would not be a branch of philo- 
sophy. But moral science establishes general principles 
for the regulation of men's conduct, and requires an 
exercise of reason, in order to apply those principles 
for determining what is duty in the various circum- 
stances which arise. So natural philosophy ascertains 
the laws of nature, and foretells by them what effects 
given causes will produce. It does not foretell these 
effects chronologically, as independent events; but it 
arrives at a knowledge of them by a process of reason- 
ing, in which the laws of, nature and the operating 
causes are the data, from which the conclusions are 
drawn. By a similar process, moral science teaches 
men their duty. It first establishes general principles 
according to which men ought to act; and from these 
it infers the actions which are proper in given circum- 
stances. 

The general principles of duty which moral science 
discovers and applies, are called Moral Law. As the 
investigations of natural philosophy determine what 
are the laws of nature, so the investigations of moral 
philosophy determine what is moral law. A knowledge 
of nature's laws is necessary, that we may avoid danger 
from natural causes, or use natural agents for our 
benefit ; and a knowledge of moral law is necessary, 
that we may determine our duty, and secure the bene- 



MORALITY AND RELIGION. 101 

fits of virtue. The knowledge of duty cannot be scien- 
tifically acquired, otherwise than by the study and 
application of the general principles which constitute 
moral law, and hence moral science is a branch of 
philosophy. 



SECTION II. CONNECTION OF MORALITY 
WITH RELIGION. 

We receive from consciousness our first notions of 
right and wrong, and of moral obligation; and from 
the same source we learn, that our knowledge of those 
subjects is imperfect. Everyman's experience testifies 
that his own reflections have often corrected his moral 
judgments and feelings ; and every one whose educa- 
tion has been wisely directed, is conscious of having 
received improvement in his moral powers. The past 
progress teaches the possibility of future advancement, 
and proves that the highest standard of morals is not 
in ourselves. 

Our moral judgments and feelings may be greatly 
improved by intercourse with our fellow-men. The 
order and happiness of society are greatly dependent 
on good morals ; and in every society we may observe 
the progress and result of an experiment, determining 
what is right, and demonstrating its beneficial tendency. 
Our parents teach us what is right ; and the obligation 
of doing right is enforced by their authority. From 
the home of our childhood, where domestic happiness 
has illustrated the beneficial tendency of virtue, we 
go abroad into society, and find another experiment on 
a larger scale. The general sentiments of mankind, 
and the laws of civil government, assist further to 
establish the distinction of right and wrong, and to 
determine the boundary between them. Here, also, on 
a larger scale, we see illustrated the beneficial tendency 
9* 



102 KNOWLEDGE OP DUTY. 

of right, and the pernicious tendency of wrong; and 
here our sense of moral obligation becomes strength- 
ened by the popular disapprobation and the civil penal- 
ties which are awarded to crime. 

In all this progress of moral improvement, we are 
convinced at every step that the highest possible attain- 
ment has not been made. The experiments of human 
society are incomplete, and the decisions of popular 
judgment, human legislatures, and civil courts, are all 
fallible. We want infallible decisions. We want an 
unerring judge. Here religion comes to our aid and 
directs us to God, the infinitely wise, and to the perfect 
moral government which he has instituted over all 
creatures. He possesses the perfect knowledge of 
good and evil; and only from the decisions of his 
infinite mind, can a perfect system of morals be 
learned. 

After we have contemplated God, the Supreme 
Ruler, and the boundless moral government which he 
exercises over the universe, if we return to our first 
conceptions of right and wrong and moral obligation, 
we may observe that God is the beginning as well as 
the ending of our morality. The first elements of our 
moral knowledge are derived from our mental constitu- 
tion, which proceeded from his creating hand. We 
learn our first lesson in moral science from God our 
Creator. The impulsion which our opening minds first 
felt was the beginning of his moral government over 
us. Right and wrong, and moral obligation, have no 
existence apart from God; and the terms have no 
intelligible meaning, if interpreted without reference 
to his moral government. 

In the view which has been taken, we perceive that 
there is a necessary connection between morality and 
religion. We may as well seek for a universe without 



NATURAL RELIGION. 103 

a God, as for a system of morality without religion. 
The moral obligation which our opening minds feel, at 
the first discovery of our relation to beings around us, 
attends us throughout life, and is felt at every new dis- 
covery in the extent or closeness of our relations. It 
binds us while under the parental roof, and when we go 
abroad into the world. It binds us in our relation to 
earthly fathers, and in the relation which we sustain to 
our Father in heaven. It binds us to earthly benefac- 
tors, and it cannot but bind us to the giver of every 
good. A morality which affects only our inferior rela- 
tions, and does not extend to those which are of highest 
importance, is without system, without completeness, 
without just claim to our regard. As true morality 
begins with God, so it ends with God ; and morality, 
in its relation to God, is nothing different from religion. 
Every moral duty fails to be properly performed, if not 
performed in obedience to God ; and every service 
rendered to him, is a religious duty. 

Religion implies love to God, and the attendant 
affections found in the sanctified heart. It has an 
external form, consisting of duties positive and moral. 
Positive duties are those for which no other reason can 
be given, than the will of God made known by express 
precept of revelation. Moral duties are those for which 
reasons may be assigned, derived from other manifesta- 
tions of the divine will. The chief concern of moral 
philosophy is with the duties of the latter class. To 
these the name morality especially applies. 

SECTION III. NATURAL RELIGION. 

Its Mode of Teaching. 
The world abounds with adaptations. The eye is 
adapted to light, and light exists, reflected to the eye 
from every object, and deriving supply from the distant 



104 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

sun, and the more distant stars. The ear is adapted to 
sound ; and sounds float on every breeze, and come, 
freighted with intelligence, from the lips of all with 
whom we converse. The mind is capable of knowledge ; 
and boundless science is at hand to fill up this capacity. 
It is endowed with social aifections ; and these find 
occasion for exercise, in the ever present and ever press- 
ing claims of society, which, without our choosing, sur- 
rounds us from the cradle. Everywhere throughout 
nature adaptations are discoverable, in such number 
and variety, that life might be spent in their contempla- 
tion. 

As intelligent and voluntary beings, it is in our power 
to act according to nature, or contrary to nature. We 
may use our eyes for seeing ; or we may close them 
against the light, or deprive ourselves of the use of them 
for ever, by putting them out. We may hear with our 
ears ; or we may close them against the intelligence of 
speech, and the melody of song. A mother may act 
without natural affection towards her babe ; and a man 
who might bless society by deeds of benevolence, may 
wage war against it, with fire-brands, arrows and 
death. 

Men who act against nature, suffer penalties for so 
doing. He who puts out his eyes, loses innumerable 
enjoyments, and exposes himself to danger from the 
flood, the fire, and the precipice. He who closes his 
ears against sound, not only loses the pleasure of 
melody and harmony, but shuts out warnings which are 
necessary for his safety, and instructions which are 
necessary for his success and happiness. The mother 
who neglects her babe, will suffer self-reproach and 
remorse ; or, if too hardened for this, will bring on her- 
self the execration of mankind. She loses the inde- 
scribable pleasure which a virtuous mother feels in the 



NATURAL RELIGION. 105 

care and training of her children ; and the benefits 
which such a mother enjoys, in the respect and appro- 
bation of the community. The villain who is at war 
with the interests of society, carries a goading con- 
science in his breast, which deprives him of peace ; and 
he feels that his own interests are in jeopardy. Society 
is against him. He knows that even his accomplices in 
guilt are not to be trusted. 

Our condition in life, as intelligent and voluntary 
beings, is manifestly one of subjection to government. 
We cannot control the arrangements of nature ; but 
must submit to be controlled by them. The pleasures 
and pains which result from our actions, are so many 
rewards and punishments, in view of which we are 
obliged to act. We are moral, as well as intelligent and 
voluntary ; and as moral beings, we feel the obligation 
under which we act, to be moral. We feel, not only 
that we must, but that we ought. Such is the constitu- 
tion of our minds, that we are compelled to regard the 
government under which we find ourselves, as moral. 
If, in ignorance of God, we ascribe the administration 
of the government to something which we call nature, 
our feeling of moral obligation still invests the govern- 
ment, in its relation to us, with a moral character. 

In the adaptations of nature, provision is made for 
human happiness. As intelligent, voluntary, and moral 
beings, we are bound so to act, in view of these adapta- 
tions, as to promote human happiness. If we do not, 
we oppose the government under which we find ourselves 
placed, and incur the penalties which it inflicts with a 
sense of deserving them. We are bound so to use our 
eyes and ears as to promote our own happiness. The 
mother is bound to exercise maternal affection for the 
happiness of her child ; and every member of society 
is bound to promote the happiness of society. The 



106 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

voice of nature without and within, commands this ; and 
the obligation to obey is enforced by rewards and pun- 
ishments, in the external pleasures and pains which 
actions produce according to the course of nature ; and 
in the internal pleasures and pains of an approving or 
condemning conscience. 

We are bound to seek our own happiness, in subordi- 
nation to the happiness of society. The impulse of 
self-love directs to the former ; the impulse of con- 
science to the latter ; and we have seen that the im- 
pulse of conscience is the most authoritative. The 
course of nature around us teaches us the same lessons as 
the voice of conscience within. The happiness of the 
individual is involved in that of society, and cannot be 
secured alone ; but the very attempt defeats itself. We 
learn, therefore, that the moral government under which 
we are placed, requires an outflow of the affections to 
the members of society around us ; and such actions, 
corresponding to these affections, as tend to the happi- 
ness of society. This obligation binds us when our 
knowledge of society is small ; and it extends as our 
knowledge enlarges. It binds us, at the outset of life, 
to the household to which we belong. It binds us after- 
wards to the neighborhood, the country, and the whole 
family of man. And when we have learned that we 
are members of a universal society, consisting of God 
the Creator, and the innumerable creatures that he has 
made, the obligation expands with the increase of 
knowledge, and requires the affections to flow forth to 
this great family. 

The voice of nature proclaims the existence of God. 
" The invisible things of him from the creation of the 
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things 
that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." 1 

1 Rom. i. 20. 



NATURAL RELIGION. 107 

The adaptations of nature display intelligence, and 
must have proceeded from an intelligent author. Effects 
which are manifestly the result of wise design, are pro- 
duced by causes in which the design does not exist. 
These causes are the effects of other causes equally 
incapable of the design. We may trace all the sequences 
of nature backward, to find, in some cause along the 
line of succession, the designing intelligence which is 
displayed in the admirable contrivances that every- 
where meet our eyes in nature's works, but at no point 
in the line can we possibly find it. None of nature's 
causes now operating possess it, and the past were not 
more intelligent than the present. These contrivances 
must be referred to an intelligent mind, by which all 
the sequences of nature have been ordered. The 
sequences are connected with the moral government 
under which we find ourselves placed, and which, there- 
fore, must be referred to the same intelligent mind. 
The government, as administered in the present world, 
is imperfect. In general it rewards virtue, and pun- 
ishes vice, but it fails to effect a perfect retribution in 
innumerable cases. Virtue is often oppressed and suf- 
fering in the present life, while vice is prosperous. 
This can be accounted for only on the supposition that 
there is a future retribution, in which the administration 
of justice will be perfected. So much of the adminis- 
tration is seen in the present life, as to assure us that 
a wise and just government exists ; and so manifestly 
imperfect is the part of it which we see in the present 
life, that we are compelled to regard it as but the 
.beginning, and to expect the completion of it hereafter. 
Thus nature teaches that there is a God, wise and just, 
who has ordered all the sequences of cause and effect, 
and who exercises a moral government over the world, 



108 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

imperfect in its present administration, but to be per- 
fected in another life. 

When, in the enlargement of its knowledge, the mind 
attains to the conception of God and his universal do- 
minion, the moral faculties, which began their develop- 
ment at the domestic hearth, find boundless scope for 
their exercise. The outflowing affection, which con- 
science then demanded, has opportunity for illimitable 
expansion ; and the same moral obligation which then 
required love to the household, now requires love to the 
universal family, and, in the highest degree, to the great 
Father of all. The morality which nature teaches, 
when its scope is so enlarged as to include God and 
his universal dominion, becomes what is called natural 
religion. 

The principle that our own happiness should be made 
subordinate to the happiness of society, pervades natural 
religion. It regards us as members of a universal 
society, over which God presides, and it requires us to 
act our part in harmony with the arrangements which 
God has established. It requires our outflowing affec- 
tion to be fixed supremely on God, the greatest and 
best of beings. It would be our duty to increase his 
happiness, were this possible ; but, since we cannot add 
to the fulness of his blessedness, we are bound to delight 
in it, to approve the scheme of things in which he 
delights, and to co-operate with all our powers in his 
wise and benevolent designs. As the mother that ne- 
glects her babe, and the son that does not reverence 
his father, act contrary to nature, so does he act 
contrary to nature who disobeys God, and refuses to 
conduct himself in harmony with the arrangements 
of his government. 

Natural religion requires us to seek the happiness of 
our fellow-creatures associated with us as members of 



NATURAL RELIGION. 109 

the universal society. Although we cannot affirm that 
the production of happiness was the design with which 
God created the world, we have sufficient proof that it 
accords with his design. While contrivances adapted 
to the general diffusion of happiness are visible every- 
where in the arrangements of nature, we act contrary 
to nature if we do not co-operate with the benevolent 
design in which these contrivances originated. Natural 
religion requires the exercise of such affections as tend 
to promote the happiness of all, and the performance 
of such actions as correspond with these affections. 

In applying this rule, to determine the moral quality 
of any particular action, we ought to consider what 
would be the effect on the happiness of society, if that 
mode of action were universal. Sometimes a reason 
may exist for a peculiar mode of action, when the cir- 
cumstances are peculiar. The general rule of duty is, 
to adopt that mode of acting, which, if universally 
adopted, would promote the happiness of society. If 
the circumstances are peculiar, it is our duty to adopt 
that mode of acting which would, if universally adopted 
in such circumstances, promote the general good. 

To exemplify the rule, let us inquire into the moral 
quality of revenge. As. an affection of the mind, does 
revenge aim at the general good ? It seeks personal 
gratification at the expense of a neighbor's happiness, 
and is, therefore, wrong. As put forth into action, 
what would be the effect on society if revenge were uni- 
versal ? If every injury were followed by revenge, 
blow would succeed to blow, until one of the parties 
became unable to continue the strife. The obligation 
to take vengeance would then pass to some friend or 
relative, whose duty it would be to espouse the quarrel. 
By this process the peace of a whole community would 
be destroyed ; and the final effect would be a desolating 

10 



110 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

war. A practical illustration of this may be found in 
the history of the North American Indians. Among 
them revenge was thought to be a virtue ; and, in con- 
sequence, the tribes were found by the Europeans who 
first visited the country, embroiled in exterminating 
wars. 

Let us, for another example, inquire into the moral 
quality of drunkenness. From its mischievous effects 
on the happiness of individuals, and of society, we 
know that it is criminal ; but this criminality is not dis- 
coverable in any antecedent mental affection, if viewed 
apart from a knowledge of the evil consequences result- 
ing. If alcohol were as harmless as water, we might 
drink it innocently; but our knowledge of its effects 
warns us against the use of it. The criminality con- 
sists in disregarding the warning which nature gives us. 

In learning duty from natural religion, caution is 
needed, lest we make unauthorized conclusions. Al- 
though human suffering may, in a general view of 
it, be ascribed to sin, it cannot be affirmed of each par- 
ticular pain that it is the penalty for a particular crime. 
No one will refer the pain of pleurisy to a particular 
crime which the sufferer has committed. Much suffer- 
ing results from imprudence, when there is no special 
criminality; and much from the imprudence or crimi- 
nality of other persons, over whose conduct the sufferers 
had no power. It is our duty, as intelligent beings, to 
study the sequences of nature ; and, so far as they can 
be brought under our control, to give them such direc- 
tion as will promote happiness. Natural religion holds 
us responsible for the consequences of our voluntary 
actions, when these consequences could be foreknown. 
In some cases, present pain is inflicted for the sake of 
greater future good which it will accomplish ; as when 
a physician applies a blister to cure disease, or a sur 



NATURAL RELIGION. Ill 

geon amputates a limb to save life. In such cases, if 
nature's sequences have been duly studied by the agent, 
the benevolence of his intention determines the moral 
character of the action. 

Extent of its Teaching. 

If we include in the teachings of natural religion all 
the knowledge of morals which may be derived from 
studying the order of nature, we shall find that it is an 
abundant source of moral instruction. 

1. Natural religion confirms the primary impulse of 
conscience. 

The elementary benevolent affection to which con- 
science impels, and which conscience approves, tends to 
the production of happiness. Natural religion teaches 
that this accords with the will of God, manifested in 
the benevolent contrivances with which his works 
abound. The instinctive affection of a mother for her 
offspring operates, and is approved by conscience, before 
any judgment is formed of its beneficial tendency. 
Natural religion confirms this decision of conscience, by 
showing how greatly society is indebted to this maternal 
instinct for its happiness and its very existence. 

2. Natural religion directs the form which the mental 
affection shall assume when it is put forth into action. 

The elementary affection cannot go abroad, without 
knowledge of things around us. It cannot be directed 
to other beings, until their existence is known; and 
cannot act on them without knowledge of the effects 
which actions will produce. For this knowledge con- 
science is indebted to natural religion. This opens the 
channel in which the affection shall flow ; or, rather, it 
points out the channel which God has opened. Con- 
science has no original knowledge of human relations, 
or of the modes in which human happiness may be 



112 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

affected ; but natural religion gives knowledge of the 
modes in which conscience must act ; and, without this 
knowledge, it cannot act to any definite result. 

Persons who have not considered the subject, are 
not aware how much we are indebted to natural religion 
for our knowledge of duty. With every movement of 
the hand, or foot, or tongue, if the happiness of a 
fellow-creature may be affected by it, some obligation 
is connected. It is the office of conscience to make us 
feel this obligation ; but natural religion must teach 
how to fulfil it. All nature is a vast volume spread 
out before us, from which we may learn our duty ; and 
natural religion teaches us so to read this volume, as to 
learn from it what is the will of God by which our 
actions should be regulated. 

3. Natural religion presents strong motives to duty. 

The man who disregards the goadings of conscience, 
is often deterred from the commission of crime by the 
external penalties which he must incur. To these, 
natural religion points ; and she teaches to consider 
these God's penalties for sin, and indications of his 
displeasure. She teaches that all the sequences of 
nature are arrangements of God's wisdom, and are 
connected with the administration of his moral govern- 
ment; that this government extends beyond the present 
life ; and that the penalties which he inflicts in this 
world, are only the beginning of his righteous retribu- 
tion. With such instructions natural religion lifts up 
its warning voice to deter from crime. 

Its Insufficiency. 

The possession of conscience renders us moral and 
accountable beings. It binds us to the exercise of 
right affections, but does not bind to any particular 
mode of action, until natural religion has added its 



NATURAL RELIGION, 113 

teachings. Natural religion, therefore, renders men 
inexcusable, if they do not improve all the advantages 
which it offers for attaining to perfect virtue ; but it is 
insufficient to restore fallen man to perfect virtue. 

I. The insufficiency of natural religion has been 
demonstrated by fair experiment. 

God has been pleased to leave a large part of the 
human race to the mere light of nature. The result 
has been that they have sunk deeper and deeper in 
vice, and wandered farther and farther from God. 
Heathen nations have admitted their own degeneracy, 
and have talked of a golden age long past, in which 
men conversed with the gods, and walked in the ways 
of virtue. Political institutions, which in their origin 
were found sufficient to restrain from grosser vices, 
grow old and decay ; and the barriers which they 
present, become too feeble to resist the lawless passions 
of men. Religion becomes more and more degraded. 
The corrupt imaginations of men form deities who are 
monsters of vice, and invent abominable rites for their 
worship. To whatever part of the heathen world we 
may go, we shall find such a state of society as will 
sadly demonstrate the insufficiency of natural religion. 

It cannot be alleged that the experiment has failed, 
for want of intelligence in the people. In ancient 
Greece and Rome, a high degree of intelligence existed. 
Many of the arts were carried to a degree of perfec- 
tion which has never since been surpassed. Sages 
appeared, whose wisdom was admired by the multitude, 
arid many philosophers taught lessons of morality to 
their disciples. But with all these advantages, the 
nations were grossly idolatrous and vicious. The 
lessons of morality wrought no reform, and the very 
teachers were slaves to the prevalent corruption. Here 
10* 



114 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

natural religion enjoyed a fair opportunity, and here 
its insufficiency was fully demonstrated. 

II. Natural religion is defective in its mode of 
teaching. 

Natural religion teaches by experience. We cannot 
know the effect of an action on human happiness, until 
it has been tried ; and frequently a long course of trial 
is necessary. Sometimes, to give a complete demon- 
stration, the experiment needs to be made on a broad 
scale, affecting the manners and prosperity of entire 
nations. This mode of instruction is too slow for 
depraved man, whose appetites and passions are clamor- 
ous for immediate gratification. He acts under their 
impulse, and the habit of vice is formed before these 
instructions can avail. 

The instructions of natural religion are not suffi- 
ciently impressive, to arrest men who are going head- 
long in a course of vice. It draws its motives from 
things unseen and future, and the knowledge of these 
is obtained by processes of reasoning through which 
they are but dimly discovered. On the other hand, 
the objects which tempt to present gratification, are 
directly at hand, and distinctly perceived by the 
senses. The indulgence of the present moment is 
often determined on, at the risk of future happiness in 
this world ; and much more is happiness in the life to 
come risked, for the sake of continued enjoyment in 
this life. 

Nature itself teaches that another mode of instruc- 
tion is necessary. Children learn much from experi- 
ence ; but parental affection does not leave them wholly 
to this means of obtaining knowledge. Language is 
employed as a vehicle of instruction, and the know- 
ledge which the parent has acquired is transfused into 
the mind of the child, to aid his imperfect experience. 



REVELATION. 115 

Such aid nature has taught men to expect from the 
benevolent Father of all. The idea of revelation from 
the gods, found entrance into heathen minds ; and 
heathen lawgivers, availing themselves of it, pretended 
to give their laws for the government of the people by 
instruction from the gods. Men, groaning under the 
miseries which idolatry and vice had brought on them, 
have longed for some revelation from heaven, to teach 
them the way to happiness. 

A revelation has been granted to mankind, and this 
fact proves further the insufficiency of natural religion. 
In the inscrutable wisdom of God, it was withheld 
until the insufficiency of natural religion was fully de- 
monstrated; and it then introduced a new mode of 
teaching adapted to the wants of mankind. "After 
that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew 
not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preach- 
ing, to save them that believe." 1 We learn from this 
revelation, that even in primeval innocence the parents 
of our race were not left wholly to natural religion, 
but had their Maker's will further made known to 
them by express command. Much more do we, their 
fallen sons, need clear instruction directly from 
heaven; and, when granted, we ought to receive it 
with overflowing gratitude, and prize it as our richest 
treasure. 

SECTION IV. REVELATION. 

Its Relation to Natural Religion. 

The Bible is a revelation from God, supplying the 
defects of natural religion. It was given by inspiration 
of God, and is, therefore, to be received as God's word 
addressed to men, and an infallible directory in all 

1 1 Cor. i. 21. 



116 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

things of which it treats. The proof that the Bible is 
the word of God may be studied in works on the evi- 
dences of Christianity. A single argument of great 
force in support of this truth may be drawn from the 
harmony of the Bible with natural religion, and the 
adaptedness of its doctrines to supply the defects of 
nature's teachings, and to develop and perfect the moral 
powers of man. 

1. The revelation made in the Bible presupposes and 
confirms the teachings of natural religion. 

The Bible opens w T ith the declaration, " In the begin- 
ning God created the heavens and the earth." The 
existence of God is presupposed. The narrative pro- 
ceeds as if this were an admitted and familiar truth. 
The attributes of God, so far as they may be learned 
from our best study of nature, are all taught with 
clearness in the volume of inspiration. The distinction 
of right and wrong, the moral government of God, the 
immortality of the soul, and the retributions of the 
future world, truths which nature teaches with obscurity, 
are brought forth into clear light by the Bible. The 
obligation of directing our affections outward, and fix- 
ing them on God and our fellow-creatures, is taught by 
express precepts. 

Since God speaks to us in nature, if the Bible con- 
tradicted the teachings of nature, there would be evi- 
dence that they have not proceeded from the same 
author. But nature and the Bible, so far as they speak 
on the same subject, always speak in perfect harmony. 
Moreover, the Bible expressly refers to the teachings 
of nature, and establishes their authority. Paul asks, 
"Doth not even nature itself teach?" 1 and Job directs, 
"Ask the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the 

1 1 Cor. xi. 14. 



REVELATION. 117 

fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee." 1 David 
describes the office of natural religion in these words : 
" The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
ment showeth his handywork ; day unto day uttereth 
speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge." 2 
And he indicates the connection and harmony of reve- 
lation, with the teachings of nature, by adding, " The 
law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul : the tes- 
timony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." 3 

2. The Bible reveals clearly what natural religion 
teaches obscurely ; and reveals many important truths 
which nature cannot teach. 

Natural religion teaches us to look through the works 
of creation and providence with the eye of the under- 
standing, and see God as he appears behind them ; but 
revelation brings him forth openly, and presents him 
addressing our external eyes and ears in his holy word. 
Nature teaches the immortality of the soul by obscure 
processes of reasoning ; but the Bible brings life and 
immortality to light. Nature rather suspects and fears, 
than believes and knows, that there will be a future 
retribution ; but the Bible shows us the Judge, the 
great white throne, the opened books, and the assembled 
multitude. We learn our duty from nature by slow 
deductions and long observations ; but the Bible brings 
us at once to the base of Sinai to hear God's commands, 
or directs us to read them as inscribed by his finger on 
the tables of stone. 

Nature may teach that man is a depraved creature, 
but it cannot direct to any remedy for his depravity — 
any means of healing for his moral disease. It may 
teach that man is guilty, and under the condemnation 
of God ; but it cannot assure the anxious soul that there 

1 Job xii. 7. 2 Ps. xix. 1, 2. 3 Ps. xix. 7. 



118 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

is forgiveness with God ; and cannot utter in his ears 
the proclamation of peace. It cannot say, " Deliver 
him from going down to the pit : I have found a 
ransom." 1 Natural religion may exhibit the moral 
governor of the universe, with the flaming sword of 
justice in his hand ; but of God in Christ, reconciling 
the world unto himself, it knows nothing, and can teach 
nothing. 

3. The Bible presents motives to virtue far more 
powerful than those of natural religion. 

Natural religion moves men by rewards and punish- 
ments, which appear distant and uncertain. In the 
present life, virtue is often afflicted, and vice prosperous ; 
and, therefore, motives drawn merely from the present 
life, operate doubtfully and feebly ; and natural religion 
cannot look into the world to come with clear and unob- 
structed vision, but sees through a glass darkly. The 
Bible places the Judge at the door, and gives men a 
deeply impressive knowledge of his terrors. It teaches, 
moreover, that there is no hope of escape to those who 
continue in transgression ; for " God shall bring every 
work into judgment, with every secret thing;" 2 and 
rocks and mountains will not be able to hide the sinner 
from his omniscient eye. 

The Bible presents a most powerful motive, of which 
natural religion knows nothing. It leads men to the 
cross of Christ, and exhibits to them the love of God 
in the gift of his Son ; the love of Christ in giving his 
life a ransom ; the demerit of sin in his unparalleled 
sufferings ; and the grace which has provided salvation 
at a sacrifice so immense. Here the heart feels an 
impulse beyond all the powers of nature. " The love 
of Christ constraineth us." 3 "The goodness of God 

1 Job. xxxiii. 24. 2 Eccl. xii. 14. 3 2 Cor. v. 14. 



REVELATION. 119 

leadeth thee to repentance." 1 Hearts, which the 
thunders of Sinai could not shake, have been moved 
by the groans of Calvary. If the moral power of the 
cross fails, no motive can be effectual. 

The Two Testaments. 

The Bible consists of two parts. The Old Testa- 
ment contains the revelations made to Moses and suc- 
ceeding prophets until the time of Christ, and pre- 
served in writing by the Hebrew nation. The New 
Testament contains the revelations made by the imme- 
diate followers of Christ, and transmitted in writing 
by Christians of the ages following. The Old Testa- 
ment was written in the Hebrew language ; the New 
Testament in Greek. 

In the first ages of the world, the art of alphabetic 
writing was unknown ; and revelations from God to 
individuals were perpetuated by oral tradition. The 
longevity of the patriarchs rendered this mode of trans- 
mission less uncertain, than it would now be, since the 
length of human life has been diminished. The art of 
alphabetic writing was introduced about the time of 
Moses ; and was immediately employed to give a stable 
form to revelation. If this art was not itself a revela- 
tion from God, as some have supposed, it was intro- 
duced, by a wise ordering of Providence, at the very 
time when it was needed, for the great purpose of giv- 
ing permanence to the revelations, designed for the 
benefit of mankind through all time ; and Moses was 
commanded to use it for this purpose. 

The first five books of the inspired volume were 
written chiefly by Moses, and are called the Pentateuch. 
They contain an account of the creation, and a brief 

1 Bom. ii. 4. 



120 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

history of the world, to the death of Moses, so far as 
it was appropriate to the design of a revelation from 
God. 

This first part of the Holy Scriptures records the 
fall of our first parents ; the great wickedness of their 
descendants ; their destruction by the flood on account 
of their sins ; and the separation of Abraham's family 
from the rest of mankind, for the establishment of a 
pure religion. Among the descendants of Abraham, a 
society was organized for the worship of God, called 
the Congregation of the Lord. For their use God insti- 
tuted numerous ceremonies of religious worship ; and to 
them he committed his written revelation. This reve- 
lation contains a code of laws, consisting of moral, cere- 
monial, and judicial precepts. The moral law is chiefly 
contained in the decalogue or ten commandments, which 
were delivered audibly by the voice of God from Sinai, 
and were engraven by the finger of God on two tables 
of stone. The ceremonial law prescribed the rites of 
religious worship, which were to be observed until the 
time of Christ, and which prefigured a better dispensa- 
tion of religion then to be introduced. This law was 
given to the Israelites as a worshipping congregation. 
The judicial law was given to them as a nation, and 
served as their civil code. It was never designed to be 
obligatory on other nations, except so far as the princi- 
ples of justice embodied in it are applicable to their 
circumstances. 

The remaining books of the Old Testament consist 
chiefly of historical, devotional, and prophetical writ- 
ings, which were of great use to the pious Hebrews, 
and are profitable to men of all nations, who study them 
with a desire to know and do the will of God. 

The system of moral law revealed in the Old Testa- 
ment, leaves men under condemnation for their trans- 



REVELATION. 121 

gressions, and exposed to the wrath of God. Intima- 
tions were given in these ancient Scriptures, that God 
had designs of mercy for our fallen race ; but the clear 
revelation of his gracious purpose was reserved for the 
dispensation which began with the coming of Christ, 
and which is made known to us in the Scriptures of the 
New Testament. From these we learn that the wisdom 
of God has devised a method of salvation by grace, 
adapted to the condition of fallen man. Justification 
is granted to all who repent of sin, and believe in Christ. 
To them, the obedience and death of Christ are reck- 
oned, as if they had personally obeyed the law, and 
suffered its penalty. Christ is to them the- end of the 
law for righteousness, and in him they have the promise 
of eternal life. 

The general distinction between the Old Testament 
and the New is, that the former was a dispensation of 
law, and the latter is a dispensation of grace. " The 
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by 
Jesus Christ." 1 Yet the Old Testament made sufficient 
revelation of grace, to guide the saints of that dispen- 
sation to heaven ; and the New Testament, on the other 
hand, sheds much additional light on the path of duty. 
It confirms those precepts of the former dispensation, 
which were adapted to general use ; and, adopting the 
same principles of morality on which they were founded, 
unfolds them more clearly, and gives them a wider appli- 
cation. 

The Bible is a rule of duty. In the words of Paul, 
" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may 
be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2 

1 John i. 17. 2 2 Tim. iii, 16, 17. 

11 



122 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

All the teachings of revelation may be considered a 
source of instruction in righteousness, and used as a 
directory in good works. The inspired volume addresses 
the understanding ; but the effect of its truth extends 
further, sanctifying the heart, and producing externally 
the fruits of holy obedience. It teaches duty in respect 
of both internal affections and external conduct ; and 
none of its instructions are properly received, if they 
fail to produce holiness of heart and life. 

The Bible doctrine concerning God, and his works 
of creation and providence, is adapted to increase our 
love to him, and our delight in the manifestations of his 
perfections. In its doctrine concerning the fall and 
present state of man, we may learn our depravity and 
condemnation, and may find incitements to deep, heart- 
felt repentance toward God. The doctrine concerning 
Christ, presents him as our Mediator and Saviour, and 
calls forth the exercise of faith in him. The doctrine 
concerning the Holy Spirit, leads to constant prayer for 
his influences, and a constant committing of ourselves 
to his guidance. The doctrine concerning the grace of 
God in our salvation, draws forth our gratitude for the 
unspeakable benefits bestowed. And the doctrine con- 
cerning the future world, leads us to resist the tempta- 
tions of the present, and to prepare with diligence, 
watchfulness, and sobriety, for the eternal world to 
which we are fast hastening. 

The devotional portion of the Scriptures is of great 
utility in the cultivation of pious feeling. The book of 
Psalms especially has been found by good men an inval- 
uable aid in the duties of both public and private 
worship. We may draw near to God with the pious 
breathings expressed in these sacred odes, and experi- 
ence delight in holding communion with the Father of 



REVELATION. 123 

our spirits. The elevating influence of this intercourse 
with heaven, will tend to preserve us from sinking under 
the burdens of life ; or becoming immersed in worldly 
cares and pursuits. 

The historical parts of the Bible unite with the pro- 
phetical, in furnishing proof of its divine origin. The 
miracles which it records, and which are as indubitably- 
attested as any facts of history, affix to its revelations 
the seal of omnipotence, and give firm foundation to 
our faith. In the sacred history, we have illustrious 
examples for our imitation, in the lives of pious men, 
and especially in the life of Jesus Christ. We have,- 
moreover, a record of God's dealings with men, good 
and bad, unfolding the principles of his moral govern- 
ment, and teaching us how to conduct in order to 
secure his favor. The history of the labors and 
sufferings by which Christianity was propagated, give 
important instruction to ministers of the gospel, and to 
all who desire to be useful in extending the true reli- 
gion. 

The prophetical portions of the Bible furnish proof 
of its divine origin, by means of their fulfilment ; and 
they serve in this way to increase our faith. They open 
to our view the designs of mercy yet to be accomplished ; 
and thereby encourage the exercise of hope, and stimu- 
late our efforts in the cause of Christ, with assured 
confidence that our labor will not be in vain. These 
Scripture prophecies are moreover interspersed with 
commands, exhortations, and warnings, which are 
greatly useful to direct us in the way of duty, and 
further our progress. 

Besides the general instructions in duty to be ob- 
tained from the Holy Scriptures, there are express 
commands binding to the exercise of particular affec- 
tions, and the performance of particular actions. Two 



124 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

precepts are given, on which we are taught that all the 
law depends : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself." The two tables of stone given to Moses at 
Sinai contained expansions of these two precepts. The 
duty of love to God was spread out into four command- 
ments written on the first table, and requiring that we 
shall have no other god than Jehovah — that we shall 
not worship images — that we shall not take the Lord's 
name in vain — and that we shall remember the Sabbath. 
The duty of love to our neighbor is expanded into six 
commandments, which were written on the second table, 
and which require that we shall honor our parents — 
that we shall not kill — that we shall not commit adul- 
tery — that we shall not steal — that we shall not bear 
false witness — and that we shall not covet. The ten 
commandments which have been referred to, were given 
to the Israelites, and formed a part of God's covenant 
with them as his peculiar people ; but they were given 
to them as men, and are adapted to the relations which 
men of all nations and ages bear to God and one an- 
other, and they are therefore obligatory on all men. 
In writing to the Romans, 1 Paul quotes several of these 
precepts, and recognises the authority and obligation 
of the law which contained them ; and in writing to the 
Ephesians, 2 he quotes the fifth precept, and urges its 
obligation as one of the commandments. These epistles 
were written after the abrogation of the old covenant, 
and were addressed to Gentiles. We have proof, there- 
fore, that the ten commandments are now binding on 
men of all nations. 

The Scriptures are so given as not to supersede, but 
to require and encourage the exercise of our intellectual 

1 Kom. xiii. 8, 10. 2 Eph. vi. 2, 3. 



DIVINE INFLUENCE. 125 

and moral powers. Though their instructions are 
clearer than those of natural religion, they nevertheless 
require to be studied, and the duty of studying them is 
enforced by divine command. 1 We are not to hold 
ourselves bound to do everything that has ever been 
commanded to any one. Abraham was commanded to 
sacrifice his son, and the Israelites were commanded to 
destroy the ancient inhabitants of Palestine ; but we are 
not bound to sacrifice our sons, or to destroy the present 
inhabitants of the holy land. On the other hand, we 
are not to hold ourselves at liberty to disregard all 
commands not expressly addressed to us, for no man 
on earth can find a command in Scripture addressed to 
him by name. But commands are addressed to men in 
particular relations^ and these bind men who sustain 
the same relations. Other commands are addressed to 
men as men, and these bind all men. Some commands 
were given for special reasons, and these bind in cases 
to which the reasons are applicable. Any one who will 
study the Scriptures with a sincere desire to know his 
duty can scarcely fail to learn it. Men err on this 
point by neglecting the careful study of God's word, 
or by studying it to find out justifications or excuses 
for doing what they prefer, rather than directions for 
doing that which is pleasing to God. They err also by 
directing their inquiries to outward acts exclusively, 
overlooking repentance, faith, love, and other affections 
of the heart, which are duties of greater importance, in 
the sight of God, than any external service. 

SECTION V. KNOWLEDGE MADE EFFECTUAL 
BY DIVINE INFLUENCE. 
In the preceding discussions we have seen the insuf- 
ficiency of conscience and natural religion. Does reve- 

1 John v. 39. 
11* 



126 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

« 

lation supply all the defects of conscience and natural 
religion, and afford all the aid that is necessary in order 
to elevate fallen man to perfect virtue ? 

1. The revelation made in the Old Testament was 
proved, by fair experiment, to be insufficient. 

Previous to the introduction of the gospel dispensa- 
tion, the necessity of its provisions was demonstrated 
by two experiments. One of these was made in the 
heathen world, demonstrating the insufficiency of natural 
religion ; the other was made in the nation of Israel, 
from the time of Moses to the coming of Christ. The 
Congregation of the Lord was instituted with divinely- 
prescribed rites of religious worship. God entered 
into a special covenant with them, and committed to 
them his word of revelation, in which his will was 
clearly made known. Prophets were sent to them from 
time to time, with such further communications from 
heaven as their circumstances required. All God's 
dealings with them manifested his special care, and 
reminded them perpetually of their accountability to 
him. They had the advantage "much every way, 
chiefly because that unto them were committed the 
oracles of God j" 1 and they were not left, like the sur- 
rounding heathen nations, to the obscure light of natural 
religion. But all these advantages were, on trial, 
proved to be insufficient. The people abused their 
high privileges, rejected the authority of God, killed 
the prophets whom he sent, and crucified the Messiah 
raised up for their deliverance. God himself declared 
the experiment to be a failure, found fault with the 
covenant, abolished it, and instituted the new covenant 
of the gospel 'dispensation. In the wisdom of God, the 
abolished dispensation was preparatory to the new, 
and demonstrated the necessity of a better covenant, 

1 Rom. iii. 2. 



DIVINE INFLUENCE. 127 

established on better promises ; a covenant in which the 
law would not be given in external revelation only, but 
would be written in the heart, so as effectually to keep 
the people in the service of God. 1 

2. The New Testament does not claim, for the mere 
letter of its revelation, superior efficacy to that of the 
Old Testament. 

Paul declares the gospel to be the power of God unto 
salvation ; 2 but he teaches also that the Scriptures of 
the Old Testament, which Timothy had studied from 
his youth, were able to make wise unto salvation. 3 
David ascribed a saving efficacy to the imperfect reve- 
lation which existed in his day. " The law of the Lord 
is perfect, converting the soul." 4 In contrasting the 
former dispensation with the present, Paul accounts for 
the inefficacy of the Old Testament, not from the infe- 
riority of its revelation, but from the fact that the 
people read Moses with a veil on their hearts. 5 The 
ministration of the letter left the law, engraven on 
stone, a mere external revelation ; and the word of the 
New Testament is as unprofitable as that of the Old, 
unless it enters the heart, and dwells there in its sanc- 
tifying power. 

3. The saving efficacy of revelation is attributed in 
the Bible to the accompanying influence of -the Holy 
Spirit. 

The New Testament clearly teaches this doctrine. 
" Neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that 
watereth ; but God that giveth the increase." 6 "Whose 
heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the 
things," &c. 7 « My preaching was in demonstration 
of the Spirit." 8 "Not in word only, but in power 

1 Heb. viii. 6-13. 2 Rom. i. 16. 3 2 Tim. iii. 15. 4 Ps. xix. 7. 
6 2 Cor. iii. 15. 6 1 Cor. iii. 7. 7 Acts xvi. 14. 8 1 Cor. ii. 4. 



128 KNOWLEDGE OF DUTY. 

and the Holy Ghost." 1 "The letter killeth, but the 
Spirit giveth life." 2 Even under the Old Testament, 
the saints understood and felt the necessity of the 
Spirit's influence. Wherefore David prayed earnestly, 
" Take not thy Holy Spirit from me." 3 Numerous 
passages of the Old Testament speak of God's bestowing 
of the Holy Spirit, for the sanctification and salvation 
of his people ; and a prophecy of Joel foretold the won- 
derful outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which, on the day 
of Pentecost, gave efficacy to the preaching of the 
apostles. 4 Christians, with pne accord, pray for the 
Holy Spirit to render the preaching of the gospel 
effectual ; and the whole tenor of their devotions, both 
public and private, recognises the necessity of his 
influence. 

4. The original defect in the impulse of conscience 
renders the influence of the Holy Spirit necessary. 

If the original impulse of conscience were sufficiently 
strong to control our lower impulses, and if we obeyed 
it throughout life, we should live in perfect virtue. 
The discoveries of natural and revealed religion would 
be welcomed, and all our powers would be given to the 
service of God. But we begin life with an advantage 
in favor of the lower impulses, and this advantage the 
power of habit is ever increasing. Conscience cannot 
of itself regain its lost dominion, and natural religion 
cannot give it the needed aid. The Old Testament 
tried its power without success, and the New Testament 
acknowledges its impotence, if not accompanied with 
the power of the Holy Spirit. The original defect in 
the impulse of conscience leaves men under the dominion 
of the lower propensities, that is, renders them carnal ; 
and, to remedy this defect, they need a change which 

1 1 Thess. i. 5. 2 2 Cor. iii. 6. 3 Ps. li. 11. * Acts ii. 16. 



DIVINE INFLUENCE. 129 

is appropriately called new birth, new creation, reno- 
vation, regeneration. To effect this change, divine 
power is needed ; and it is accordingly ascribed to the 
Spirit of God. 

Natural religion can give no assurance of divine for- 
giveness. The Old Testament taught that there is 
forgiveness with God, 1 and obscurely exhibited, in its 
sacrifices, the redemption by Christ through which for- 
giveness is bestowed. The New Testament opens the 
way of salvation clearly, and gives full assurance of 
pardon to all who seek it by faith in the atoning sacri- 
fice of Christ. Natural religion can teach the need of 
internal sanctification, but it cannot discover any suffi- 
cient means for effecting it. The Old Testament 
obscurely taught the doctrine of sanctification by the 
renewing power of the Holy Spirit, but the New Testa- 
ment reveals this doctrine fully, and teaches us on what 
power to rely for effecting this great change within us. 
The New Testament reveals God the Son, and God the 
Holy Spirit, working for man and in man the great sal- 
vation which he needs, and gives assurance of this salva- 
tion to every penitent believer. The New Testament 
revelation connects moral science with gospel theology, 
and perfects the system. As there cannot be pure 
morality without religion, so there cannot be a perfect 
system of moral science without theology. A system 
of moral science which has no place for the sanctifying 
influence of the Holy Spirit, should be classed with the 
inefficacious systems of ethics taught by heathen phi- 
losophers, and should not satisfy the Christian student. 

1 Ps. cxxx. 4. 



CHAPTER VI. 
GENERAL RULES OF CONDUCT. 



The following rules of conduct may be deduced 
from the foregoing discussions. 

RULE I. STUDY THOROUGHLY THE LAWS 
OF PURE MORALITY. 

We spend years of laborious study, that we may 
learn how to speak and write in the best manner. We 
toil for this purpose at grammars and lexicons, and 
wear out our eyes in reading authors of classic ele- 
gance. All this is done that we may speak and write 
well; but how much more important it is, that we 
should act well ! We learn arithmetic and book-keep- 
ing to render ourselves good accountants, and we study 
political economy, that we may apply our accountant 
skill to the acquisition of wealth; but what wealth is 
of so much value as the inestimable treasure of an 
unsullied character, the priceless gem of a pure con- 
science ! We study the rules of politeness, that we may 
pass in society with ease and grace ; but men of polished 
and fascinating manners, with corrupt hearts, are 
whited sepulchres, beautiful indeed without, but within 
full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. They 
are loathsome and pestilential. We should not desire 
to be like them, but should labor to acquire the grace 
of genuine virtue, the fascination of uncounterfeited 
benevolence. 

Let us study morality in books and in men ; in the 

(130) 



.RULE II. 131 

written and unwritten lives of those whose virtues 
have adorned society, in the approbation and homage 
of mankind for genuine goodness ; but, above all, in 
the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us 
"thoroughly furnished unto every good work." Let 
us study morality with more intense interest than any- 
thing else. Let us study it for the management of the 
heart, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the eyes, the ears. 
Let us study it in the daily business of life, in the family, 
in retirement, and on our knees : so study it, that it 
shall become our most familiar science, and that the 
fluency and propriety with which we speak, shall not 
exceed the promptness and correctness with which we 
determine how to act. 

RULE II. IN DELIBERATING ON AN ACTION, 

INQUIRE CHIEFLY INTO ITS MORAL 

QUALITY. 

The Great Teacher asked, " What is a man profited 
if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul V' 1 
This inquiry should be before us, whenever we are 
deliberating how to act, and the proper answer to it 
should govern all our decisions. Every wrong action 
tends to corrupt the character and ruin the soul. No 
evil can befall us so great as to do wrong, and no 
benefit arising from an evil act, can countervail the 
mischief and damage accruing. We ought, therefore, 
in deliberating on the performance of any act, to 
inquire with chief solicitude, not whether it will secure 
pleasure, honor, or wealth, but whether it is right. 
This question, first in importance, should be first in the 
order of time. We should ask it before the temptation 
has excited the imagination and biassed the judgment. 

1 Matt. xvi. 26. 



132 GENERAL RULES OF CONDUCT. 

We should firmly disregard every other inquiry, until 
this question has been thoroughly investigated, and 
fully and finally decided. 

RULE III. ALWAYS ACT CONSCIENTIOUSLY. 

Never do what conscience forbids. If we slight its 
admonitions, they will become less urgent, less loud, 
until its voice will at length be unheard. A little 
indulgence may be proposed, and appetite, passion, or 
self-love may plead that it is a little thing ; but it is 
never a little thing to wound the conscience. Drive 
not this faithful friend to cease his remonstrance, for 
his silence is the token of perdition. 

Never decline to do what enlightened conscience 
commands. The road of virtue is sometimes up a 
rugged ascent; but we must not hesitate to climb it. 
We should pursue duty at every expense, and at every 
hazard. He who hesitates to-day, may stand still to- 
morrow, and go backward the day following. If we 
would be virtuous, truly and decidedly virtuous, we 
must cultivate the habit of attending promptly to every 
suggestion of the internal monitor; and no dangers, 
fears, or enticements, should cause us to deviate in the 
slightest degree from the onward path, or abate the 
speed of our progress. 

Avoid action, if conscience is in doubt. Even those 
whose ability to form correct moral judgments is great- 
est, are sometimes in doubt. No one should do any- 
thing, the propriety of which he doubts, unless he still 
more doubts the propriety of delay. Every one should 
seek to prepare himself for the prompt decision of 
cases which do not admit deliberation, and errors of 
haste are often the result of previous deliberate negli- 
gence. 



RULE IV. 133 



RULE IV. PRACTISE FREQUENT, STRICT, 
AND IMPARTIAL SELF-EXAMINATION. 

Our present life is preparatory for that which is to 
come ; and every day of life prepares for those which 
follow it. The experience of yesterday fits us for the 
duties of to-morrow; and we should study it for this 
end. Have we done right? We should mark the 
pleasure which self-approbation brings, and resolve to 
persevere in the right. Have we done wrong? We 
should submit patiently to the pain of remorse, and 
penitently resolve to do so no more. We should dili- 
gently search into the causes of our error, and deter- 
mine to watch against the temptations by which we 
have been overcome. If others have suffered by our 
wrong, our penitence is never complete, until we have 
resolved to make restitution. Above all, it is never 
complete, until we have contemplated our sin as com- 
mitted against God, and humbled ourselves before him 
on account of it. In this manner, the penitent king 
of Israel confessed to God, "Against thee, thee only, 
have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." 1 

Our self-examination should be so frequent, as to 
become habitual; so strict, as to permit no thought, 
word, or action, to escape its watchful scrutiny; and 
so impartial, that we can invite the search of the om- 
niscient Judge. To assist our impartiality, we may 
often avail ourselves of complaints and accusations 
made against us by enemies ; or the rebukes of faithful 
friends, whose censures ought to be far more acceptable 
to our ears, than the voice of flattery. 



1 Ps. li. 4. 
12 



134 GENERAL RULES OF CONDUCT. 

RULE V. THESE RULES SHOULD BE OBSERVED 
IN THE FEAR OF GOD, WITH HUMBLE TRUST 
IN CHRIST, AND PRAYERFUL DEPENDENCE 
ON THE HOLY SPIRIT. 

Religion is the perfection of morality, and the 
truth and excellence of the Christian religion are 
demonstrated, by the perfect adaptedness of its doc- 
trines to develop and perfect the moral powers of 
man. To estimate the human mind aright, we must 
contemplate its moral powers, in their susceptibility 
of indefinite development, and in their relation to the 
moral government of God, and the retributions of 
eternity. These subjects must be viewed in the light 
which the Gospel of Christ sheds on them. Moral 
philosophy has performed its best office, when it has 
brought us to the feet of Christ, to receive his instruc- 
tions, to obey his commands, and to trust in his blood 
and righteousness. 



CHAPTER VII. 
DUTIES TO GOD. 



SECTION I. LOVE AND REVERENCE. 

The chief of all duties is thus commanded : " Thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." 1 
Natural religion leads us to the knowledge of this duty 
through a long process of reasoning ; but in revelation, 
God issues his command directly, and in terms which 
all may understand. Some difficulty may arise in 
defining repentance, faith, and other exercises of the 
mind ; but no one needs to be told what love is. Some 
minds are capable of stronger affections than others ; 
and this precept, allowing for the diversity, measures 
the extent of the obligation by the extent of the 
capacity. The precept accommodates itself to persons 
of feeble mind, and spreads its obligation over the most 
powerful intellects. To love with all the heart, is the 
simple comprehensive requirement adapted to every 
case. 

The object of our supreme love is near at hand. 
Our eyes do not see his spiritual essence ; but it is 
equally true, that they do not see the minds with which 
we hold familiar intercourse in social relations, and 
toward which our warm affections flow. The father and 
mother whom we love, are not the mere outward forms 



1 Deut. vi. 5. 

(135) 



136 DUTIES TO GOD. 

which our eyes see, but the invisible minds that care 
for us, and love us. Though the minds themselves are 
unseen, their love and tender care are incessantly 
manifested in words and actions, which could originate 
in nothing but parental affection. We have as thorough 
conviction that the minds of our parents exist, and are 
filled with affection for us, as we could have if their 
minds and their affections were visible or tangible things. 
So we may have thorough conviction that God exists, 
and that he is infinitely benevolent, though our eyes 
have never seen his essence, and our hands have never 
felt the throbbings of his kind heart. Hence, the 
invisibility of God is no obstacle to the exercise of our 
love to him. He may be seen in every object that we 
behold ; perceived in every movement of nature ; and 
felt in every enjoyment of life. The heavens, the 
earth, the mountains, the vales, the forests, and the 
grassy plains, are all full of the Deity. The rising sun, 
the fanning breeze, and the flowing stream, are moved 
by his hand, and guided by his unseen mind. His 
kindness supplies our food, and raiment, and health, 
and the blessings of every passing hour. If, seeing all 
these manifestations of God, and receiving all these 
blessings from him, we live without love to him, we are 
wholly inexcusable. The brutes that perish may live 
in disregard of God ; but for intelligent, moral crea- 
tures so to live, is highly criminal, and must be highly 
offensive to their Maker. If earthly parents would be 
grieved by the continued indifference and neglect of 
the children whom they love and provide for, much 
more must our heavenly Father be grieved and offended, 
if we meet him at every turn of life, and take from his 
hand every good that we enjoy, without acknowledging 
his presence and goodness, and giving him. the affec- 
tions of our hearts. 



LOVE AND REVERENCE. 137 

We are under obligation to delight in the happiness 
of God. Isaac loved savory meat, 1 for the sake of the 
gratification which it afforded him : and such love may 
be innocently exercised toward material objects ; but 
virtuous love cannot be exercised towards sentient 
objects, without regard to their pleasure or happiness. 
Virtuous love tends to diffuse happiness, where it can 
be increased, and to delight in it, where it already 
exists. God's happiness is incapable of increase ; but, 
if we love him, we delight in contemplating his blessed- 
ness, and the incessant flow of it into the creatures who 
are deriving enjoyment from his inexhaustible fulness. 
The heart that does not delight in the Lord, would dry 
up this fountain of good, which supplies every stream 
of happiness on earth, and all the bliss of heaven. 

We are under obligation to delight in the attributes 
of God. God is not a mere fountain of happiness, 
supplying the universe with enjoyment. When he 
created man in his image, he made him not sentient 
merely, but also intelligent and moral. Being endowed 
with such a nature, we ought to understand and approve 
the character of God. We cannot love with all the 
heart, if the intellectual and moral powers are not 
brought into exercise ; but this cannot be, if his char- 
acter is such that the streams of happiness flowing from 
him are wild torrents, rushing without guidance and 
control. We are formed capable of understanding, to 
some extent, those attributes of the divine nature which 
regulate every outflow from its fulness ; and we cannot 
love God as he requires, without approving and delight- 
ing in these attributes. We must rejoice that God 
reigns, and that justice and judgment are the habitation 
of his throne. We must approve the principles of his 

1 Gen. xxvii. 4. 
12* 



138 DUTIES TO GOD. 

moral government, and desire its perpetuity and uni- 
versal prevalence. We must from the heart pray, 
" Thy kingdom come." 

We are under obligation to delight in the execution 
of God's will. " He doeth according to his will in the 
army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
earth." 1 He " worketh all things after the counsel of 
his own will." 2 God's will accords with the perfections 
of his nature ; and these are displayed when his will 
is executed. It is impossible to delight in his perfec- 
tions, without delighting in the execution of his will. 
He who loves God with all the heart, prays with all the 
heart, " Thy will be done." 

Love, exercised towards equals and dependants, may 
assume the form of familiar fondness ; but, as exercised 
towards the infinite God, it assumes the form which is 
appropriately denoted by the word reverence. A sense 
of God's great superiority mingles with the emotion of 
love ; producing humility in the contemplation of our- 
selves, and reverence in the contemplation of God. We 
may revere fellow-men, whom we acknowledge to be 
our superiors. Respect is paid to men of age, men of 
power, men of purity. But if hoary hairs entitle men 
to reverence, much more is reverence due to the Ancient 
of Days, who existed ages of ages before any creature 
was brought into being. If reverence is due to mighty 
kings, who rule over large empires, and command the 
movements of vast armies ; much more is it due to the 
King of kings, who governs the universe, at whose com- 
mand the heavenly hosts fly in swift obedience, and 
whose will all the forces of nature obey. If we revere 
holy men, clothed with vestments of spotless purity ; 
much more should we, with the angels who worship near 



Dan. iv. 35. 2 Eph. i. 11. 



LOVE AND REVERENCE. 139 

the throne, bow in profound reverence, and, vailing 
our faces, cry, "Holy! holy! holy! is the Lord of 
hosts!" 1 

The reverence which has been described, is frequently 
denoted in the Scriptures by the term fear : " The fear 
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." 2 » Fear God, 
and keep his commandments ; for this is the whole duty 
of man. " 3 There is a fear which is inconsistent with love. 
Of this it is said, « Perfect love casteth out fear ; 
because fear hath torment." 4 This servile fear is con- 
sistent with the greatest depravity ; for, « the devils 
believe and tremble." 5 But the fear of God which the 
Holy Scriptures command, is filial reverence, a rever- 
ence, similar to that which a dutiful son feels towards a 
father whom he delights to honor and obey. This fear 
of God produces adoration, and is indispensably neces- 
sary in all acceptable worship and service. It is hence 
properly called the "beginning of wisdom." 

The religion of the heathen is not founded on love 
and reverence for their deities. Indeed the deities whom 
they worship are not worthy of love and reverence, the 
heathens themselves being judges. The gods have been 
created by the depraved imaginations of men, and even 
heathen morality has reprobated the characters and 
actions attributed to them. But long before the heathen 
poets sung of their gods, the true God commanded the 
love and reverence of his creatures ; and a religion 
founded on this requirement, differs from all other 
religions in the world, and contains internal proof that 
it is the true religion. It is a fact which infidelity can- 
not deny, that the precept requiring supreme love to 
God, is found in the oldest book in the world. As there 



1 Isaiah vi. 3. 2 Prov. ix. 10. 3 Ecc. xii. 13. i 1 John iv. 18. 
5 James ii. 19. 



140 DUTIES TO GOD. 

found, it claims to have come from heaven. What other 
origin could it have had ? Any one who will attentively 
and honestly pursue this single inquiry, may find in it 
alone satisfactory proof that the Bible is what it claims 
to be, the book of God. 

SECTION II. OBEDIENCE. 

Supreme love to God implies delight in the execu- 
tion of his will. It is not enough that God himself 
does his own pleasure in heaven and earth ; and that 
virtuous creatures are executing his will ; but, if we 
love him supremely, we cannot be satisfied to be inactive. 
We must co-operate with God and his virtuous creatures, 
in doing what pleases him. We cannot delight in his 
happiness, without desiring to do that which gives him 
pleasure ; and we cannot delight in his perfections, with- 
out desiring to do that which accords with these perfec- 
tions. 

The powers with which God has endowed us, are 
adapted to action ; and it was his design that they 
should be employed in action. He made them, and pre- 
serves them, and has a perfect and absolute right of 
property in them. He has the highest right to command 
their services ; and we are bound, under the strongest 
obligation possible, to employ them in his service. He 
has a perfect right to assign us our place in his domin- 
ions, and to prescribe our duties ; and we are under line 
strongest possible obligation, to take the assigned place, 
and perform the prescribed duties, in the exercise of 
supreme love to him. Such obedience is rendered by 
the inhabitants of heaven, and makes heaven a place 
of order and bliss. We ought to pray, " Thy will be 
done in earth, as it is in heaven;" 1 and, if we act in 

1 Matt. vi. 10. 



OBEDIENCE. 143 

harmony with this prayer, our powers will be employed 
in doing the will of God, and our obedience will harmo- 
nize with that which prevails in the high and holy 
place. 

Our obedience should be from the heart. Jesus said, 
"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to 
finish his work." 1 And to do the will of God ought to 
be our highest enjoyment. It is not enough that we 
perform, with reluctance, or cold indifference, the out- 
ward acts which God requires. If we do not delight in 
the service, the Searcher of hearts sees through the 
outward form, and abhors the service to which the heart 
is not given. God is not deceived. Splendid services 
are a mockery ; and costly oblations a cheat. God 
requires the heart ; and without it, no service can be 
acceptable in his sight. 

Our obedience should be perpetual. One day in 
seven has been specially consecrated to the worship and 
service of God ; but every day, every hour, every mo- 
ment, belongs to him, and should be spent in accordance 
with his will. In the sanctuary, in the closet, and in 
the daily secular pursuits of life, God is present with 
us, and worthy of our supreme love ; and, whether we 
eat or drink, or whatever we do, we should act under a 
sense of obligation to him, and with a view to his appro- 
bation. Our constant inquiry should be, " Lord, what 
wilt thou have me to do?" 2 And in every concern of 
life, in our general plans, and in our particular actions, 
we fail in duty, if we cannot refer everything to the 
will of God, and act with a sincere desire to please him 
in all things. 

Our obedience should be universal. If love to God 
reigns in the heart, every affection, every thought, 

1 John iv. 34. 2 Acts ix. 6. 



142 DUTIES TO GOD. 

every imagination, will be in subjection to the divine 
will. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth 
will speak words well pleasing to God. Every act, in 
which any member of the body is employed, will be 
directed with pure intent to the fulfilment of God's will. 
If God requires some arduous service, the whole man, 
body and spirit, will be given up to this service without 
reserve ; and if God commands the tithing of mint, the 
smallness of the service will never be made a plea for 
disobedience. Whether God commands to govern an 
empire, or to give a piece of bread to a suffering 
Lazarus, it will be our delight to obey. 

Our obedience should be unhesitating. When Paul 
was called into the service of the Christian ministry, 
he conferred not with flesh and blood. 1 The like 
promptness should appear in all our obedience. If 
appetite and passion should urge delay, for the sake of 
present gratification, our firm purpose should be undis- 
turbed by their clamor. We must learn to crucify the 
flesh with its affections and lusts. If self-love should 
urge that the loss of comfort, health, or life, is too 
great a sacrifice to be made for the sake of pleasing 
God, we must deny self, and remember that we are not 
our own. No enticements, however strong, no threats, 
however formidable, should cause a moment's delay in 
executing the will of God. 

SECTION III. GRATITUDE. 

We love and honor good and great men, from whom 
we have received no personal kindness. On the same 
principle, we ought to love and reverence God, apart 
from all consideration of the benefits received from 
him. But a strong additional incentive to love is fur- 

1 Gal. i. 16. 



GKATITUDE. 143 

nished by the blessings which he confers on us ; and in 
view of these, love assumes the form of gratitude. 

Gratitude implies a sense of intended kindness. 
The fire that warms us, does us a kindness ; but we are 
not grateful to it, because it warms without intention. 
But God's favors are intentionally bestowed. They 
come from his benevolence ; and are, therefore, adapted 
to awaken gratitude in our hearts. 

God has surrounded us with objects adapted to give 
pleasure to our senses, and has so constituted us that 
we are capable of receiving this pleasure. Much of it 
comes in our way without being sought, and meets us 
in the path of life which we are obliged to tread. The 
food which we must eat in order to sustain life is made 
sweet to the taste. The light by which our steps must 
be guided is made pleasant to the eyes. Every sense 
is made an inlet of pleasure not necessary to our being, 
but contributing much to our happiness. These enjoy- 
ments pour in upon us at every opening, and from every 
quarter ; and they are manifestly the result of contri- 
vance, proceeding from the all-creating Mind. For 
these benefits incessantly received, our hearts should 
send forth incessantly a return of gratitude to Him from 
whose bounty they flow. 

God has made the intellectual powers with which he 
has endowed us, sources of enjoyment. Apart from 
the necessity or utility of knowledge, we have pleasure 
in possessing it, and pleasure in acquiring it. We 
commence our pleasurable lessons at the beginning of 
life ; and, throughout its course, the objects which sur- 
round us, stimulate and gratify our inquisitiveness. 
And the provision for intellectual enjoyment is not 
confined to the present life. Knowledge in the present 
life is but in part. Beyond death, new fields of dis- 
covery are opened to the immortal spirit ; new powers 



144 DUTIES TO GOD. 

will be given for exploring them ; and the exercise of 
these powers, in the boundless pursuit of knowledge, 
will be adapted to give new and eternally-accumulating 
happiness. 

God has made us capable of pleasure from the exer- 
cise of virtue — a pleasure the richest and noblest that 
we can enjoy, and nearest akin to the blessedness of 
God. An opportunity for exercising virtue, and there- 
fore for enjoying this pleasure, he has given at every 
moment of life, and in every relation that we bear. By 
the mental constitution with which he has endowed us, 
this pleasure will, if we continue to make progress in 
virtue, increase with every step of our advancement, 
until we reach the felicity of the upper world, and it 
will there continue to accumulate through our immortal 
existence. 

God has made us capable of deriving enjoyment from 
society; and he has given opportunity for this enjoy- 
ment by placing us in the midst of society from the 
commencement of life. Much of our knowledge is 
derived from society, and in society we find the chief 
occasions for the exercise- of virtue. Hence our intel- 
lectual, moral, and social pleasures, become intimately 
blended. This union of pleasures continues through 
the life of a good man, and he dies with the assured 
hope of finding it again beyond the grave. There he 
will be introduced into the society of the pure and 
blest. There he will be fof ever with the Lord, and 
will find in his presence fulness of joy. 

The very exercise of gratitude gives pleasure ; and 
all these blessings so rich in the present gift, and so 
surpassingly rich in the future prospect, call forth its 
exercise in every mind which is not lost to virtue. 
How like the brute does that man live, who, amidst the 
profusion of enjoyments which God pours upon him, 



TRUST. 146 

cherishes no gratitude in his heart to the benevolent 
Author from whom they come ! Ingratitude is despised 
among men ; how offensive must it be in the sight of the 
holy God, to whom all sin is hateful ! 

SECTION IV. TRUST. 

It is our duty, not only to thank God for past and 
present blessings, but to trust him for future supply in 
every time of need. The experience of every hour 
reminds us of our absolute dependence on God. We 
are unable to sustain ourselves in being, or to control 
the operations of things around us, and compel them to 
yield us needed good. Our inability gives constant 
occasion for trust in God ; and trust in him is com- 
manded in the word of God by express precept, and 
encouraged by numerous promises of divine blessing. 

The attributes of God are a firm foundation for our 
trust. The needy apply for relief to persons of known 
benevolence, who have the power to grant the needed 
aid; and the confidence of success is greater or less, 
according to the estimated benevolence and power of 
those to w T hom the application is made. God is infinite 
in benevolence and power, and is therefore infinitely 
worthy of all our confidence. The needy apply for 
relief to persons who have not invited them ; but God 
has invited us to come to him for the supply of every 
want, and to cast all our care on him. His past kind- 
ness is a sufficient assurance that his invitation and 
promise have not been given to deceive us, and we have 
the highest additional assurance in his truth. God 
cannot lie. His word of promise is more to be relied 
on than the laws of nature. These may be changed. 
Heaven and earth may pass away, but the word of the 
Lord endureth for ever ; and what he has said he will 
certainly perform. To charge a fellow-man with want 
13 



146 DUTIES TO GOD. 

of truth, is esteemed one of the highest insults that we 
can offer him. If we distrust the veracity of God, he 
hears the very language of our hearts, and cannot be 
indifferent to its import ; for « he that believe th not God 
hath made him a liar." 1 

To trust God with the cares of this life, requires a 
firm persuasion that all the affairs of life are under his 
management. It requires, moreover, a firm purpose to 
obey him in all things ; since the benefits conferred by 
his overruling providence are made blessings to the 
obedient only. His threatenings deserve to be believed, 
as well as his promises ; and if we sin against him, we 
have reason to expect his wrath, instead of his blessing. 
But if our trust in him is accompanied with a firm pur- 
pose to obey him, and a firm persuasion that all the 
events of life are under his control, we can enjoy un- 
disturbed peace and tranquillity amidst the turmoil of 
life, and the whirl of human changes. With the same 
temper of mind, relying on the promises of his grace 
through Jesus Christ, we may contemplate death calmly, 
and rejoice in the hope of eternal life. 

SECTION V. REPENTANCE. 

Were we free from sin, it would be our duty to 
render to God the love, obedience, gratitude, and trust, 
which have been described in the preceding sections. 
But the fact that we are sinners, gives occasion for a 
duty of which holy beings are incapable — the duty of 
repentance. 

According to the moral judgment of mankind, he 
who has done wrong to his neighbor, is bound to regret 
the wrong, and make amends for it. This obligation 
is greatly increased, if the individual wronged is a 

1 1 John v. 10. 



RESIGNATION. 147 

friend and benefactor. The same principle of morals 
requires repentance for sins committed against God. 
We cannot, in our own persons, make amends for our 
sins against him ; but we can accept with grateful joy 
the satisfaction for sin which his goodness has provided, 
in the death of Christ. All this we are bound to do. 
Repentance was not commanded in the decalogue — 
because the decalogue addresses men as men ; but the 
gospel addresses men as sinners ; and, therefore, in the 
gospel, God "commandeth all men everywhere to re- 
pent." 1 And the Scriptures recognise the additional 
obligation derived from the goodness of God towards 
us. " The goodness of God leadeth thee to repent- 
ance." 2 

He who, when charged by a fellow-man with having 
committed an offence against him, declares that he is 
not sorry for it, virtually repeats the offence. God 
accuses us of our sins daily, by the voice of conscience 
within us, by his judgments which are abroad in the 
earth, and by the word which he has given us from 
heaven. If, in the face of these accusations, we remain 
impenitent, he understands the silent utterance of the 
heart, as if it proclaimed abroad, in spite of his mani- 
fested displeasure, that we are not sorry for having 
offended him. What an aggravation of our guilt ! 
How fearful is the condition of the impenitent ! How 
just the denunciation, " Except ye repent, ye shall 
all likewise perish." 3 

SECTION VI. RESIGNATION. 

He who sincerely repents of sin, condemns himself 
for having committed it, and acknowledges that he 
deserves punishment. He is, therefore, prepared to 
receive, without murmuring, those inflictions from the 

1 Acts xvii. 30. 2 Rom. ii. 4. 3 Luke xiii. 3. 



148 DUTIES TO GOD. 

hand of God, which he regards as the punishment of 
his sins. In this spirit of submission, the penitent 
man endures the afflictions of life, and rejoices, if he 
may account them fatherly chastisements for his offences 
against infinite goodness, graciously intended and 
wisely adapted to promote his holiness. 

Pious submission in present suffering, is always 
accompanied with resignation in the prospect of future 
calamities. The good man reviews God's past mercies 
with overflowing gratitude, and asks, " Shall we receive 
good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive 
evil?" 1 He trusts in God, not only when the sky is 
clear, and the sunshine of prosperity enlightens his 
path, but also when clouds and darkness obscure his 
way, and the gathering tempest howls over his head. 
He remembers that God rules in every storm ; and God 
is his refuge and strength in every trouble. Without 
a tear, he is able to resign all into his heavenly Father's 
hand ; and he sees no cause for fear, " though the earth 
be removed, and though the mountains be carried into 
the midst of the sea." 2 Were the universe in convul- 
sions, in God's hands he is safe. 

SECTION VII. HABIT OF DEVOTION. 

Our thoughts, feelings, and actions are, to a very 
great extent, determined by previously-acquired habit. 
Through the power of habit, the thoughts, feelings, and 
actions of to-day, affect us to-morrow, and throughout 
our immortal existence. We are responsible for the 
habits which we form, and, because of their immense 
influence, our responsibility with respect to them is 
inconceivably great. 

Our highest duties relate to God. Devotion consists 

1 Job ii. 10. 2 Ps. xlvi. 2. 



HABIT OF DEVOTION. 149 

in love, reverence, gratitude, repentance, trust, and 
resignation ; and the habit of devotion is the habit of 
exercising these affections. Since devotion is our highest 
duty, our responsibility to form a habit of devotion, is 
the highest of which we are capable. 

Our opportunities for forming the habit of devotion, 
correspond to the greatness of our responsibility respect- 
ing it. They are more than we can number, greater 
than we can estimate. A contemplation of them will 
assist us to judge of the responsibility which they bring 
with them, and under which we are obliged to act at 
every moment of life. • 

1. Every object in creation is adapted to give exer- 
cise to devotion. 

The heathen had gods presiding over almost every 
department of nature, as the hills, the vales, the moun- 
tains, forests, and the streams. We must not imitate them 
in this idolatry ; but we may learn from it a profitable 
lesson. In every object of nature, we may see the true 
God, the maker of all things; and every object which 
we behold, should awaken thoughts of him, with feel- 
ings of devotion. The universe is a temple, filled with 
the presence and glory of the Deity ; and man is placed 
in this temple, and endowed with the faculties necessary 
to render religious homage to the Creator. Everything 
in this vast temple displays the Deity. The quivering 
leaf at our window tells us that God is near at hand ; 
and the star which twinkles in the blue heavens tells 
us that God exercises his power and wisdom in the 
remote regions of space. All his works praise him ; 
and the right contemplation of them must fill our 
hearts with devotion. If our eyes are not blind to the 
glory of God which all nature displays, and if our ears 
are not deaf to his praise with which all nature is vocal, 
13* 



150 DUTIES TO GOD. 

we shall join in the universal homage with habitual 
devotion. 

2. All the changes in the universe are operations of 
God's hand, and give occasion for devotion. 

God governs the world which he created, and con- 
trols all its movements. Not a sparrow falls to the 
ground without him. The pious man recognises his 
hand in every event, feels him in the earthquake, hears 
him in the thunder, sees him in the lightning, and per- 
ceives him equally in all the gentle movements of nature. 
The sun in his course, and the seasons as they revolve, 
tell him of God. The ceaseless changes which every 
passing moment brings under his observation, call on 
him to remember God, who directs them, working all 
after the counsel of his will. 

3. We to whom God has given the Bible, enjoy the 
best means possible for cultivating the habit of devo- 
tion. 

In ancient times God spoke to favored individuals to 
whom he made known his will. His revelation assumed 
an abiding form, when it was committed to writing ; and 
it has been completed by the addition of the New Tes- 
tament. The entire volume is now in our hands ; and, 
in the perusal of it, we have the privilege of learning 
all that is necessary to our duty and happiness. In this 
word God speaks directly to us ; and makes himself 
clearly known. This book unfolds the counsels of infi- 
nite wisdom and grace, exhibits the character of God 
in the most attractive light, and presents the strongest 
incentives to devotion. With it as our constant com- 
panion, we can desire no better means for cultivating 
the habit of devotion. 

For the proper use of all the advantages which God 
has given us, he holds us responsible; but we do not use 
them aright, unless we make each an occasion for the 
exercise of devotion. If the opportunities, when pre- 



PRAYER. 151 

sented, are treated with neglect, the habit of neglect 
will be formed. If we fail to see God in the objects 
of nature, and become engrossed in the exclusive con- 
templation of visible things, we shall become habitually 
undevout in the grand temple of the Creator. If we 
fail to recognise the divine hand in the changes of 
things, and limit our thoughts to the second causes 
which are concerned in these changes, we shall habitu- 
ally live without God in the world. If we neglect the 
Holy Scriptures, or peruse them for any other purpose 
than that of spiritual improvement, we shall acquire 
the habit of treating with contempt our adorable Sove- 
reign and benevolent Father, addressing us from the 
skies. We cannot be stationary. The habits which 
we are incessantly forming, if they do not bring us 
into nearer approach to God, are driving us from him, 
and preparing us for eternal banishment from his 
presence. 

Our duty to God does not consist in the devotion of 
the heart only, but includes outward acts of obedience : 
and such is the connection between devotion and obedi- 
ence, that neither can exist alone, and each promotes 
the other. If we would cultivate the feeling of com- 
passion for the poor, we must exercise it in outward 
acts for their relief. The sentimental compassion 
which exhibits itself in tears without alms, is practical 
cruelty, and 'hardens the heart. In like manner, all 
religious feeling which is not accompanied with external 
obedience, is false piety, which mocks God, and ruins 
the soul. 

SECTION VIII. PRAYER. 

Its Nature. 

Prayer is the expression of desire or devotional 
feeling, in language addressed to God. 



152 DUTIES TO GOD. 

A prominent part of prayer is petition. This is the 
expression of desire. We desire to obtain some good, 
and we desire to obtain it from God. We express this 
desire in a form of words, in which we ask God to 
bestow the good desired. So needy are we, and so 
dependent on God, that in every approach to him we 
have occasion to ask some supply of our wants, some 
grace to help in time of need, and therefore petition 
may be considered a necessary part of prayer. So 
Paul appears to have regarded it: "In every thing, by 
prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your 
requests be made known unto God." 1 

In prayer, the various feelings of devotion find utter- 
ance in language. Love and reverence are expressed 
in blessing and adoring the great object of our worship. 
Gratitude is poured forth in words of thanksgiving, as 
we count over the favors received. Repentance is 
expressed in confessing our sins with all their aggrava- 
tions, and imploring pardon through Jesus Christ. 
Trust and resignation appear in the surrender of our- 
selves into God's hand, to be delivered from evil, and 
supplied with daily bread. 

Prayer must express the desires and devotional feel- 
ings of the heart. A form of words which proceeds not 
from the heart, is not prayer. Saul of Tarsus had 
been a devout Pharisee, and had often repeated forms 
of prayer; but when he became converted by the 
grace of God, all his former devotions were accounted 
nothing, and the Searcher of hearts now said concern- 
ing him, "Behold, he prayeth." 2 It is vain for men to 
draw nigh to God with the mouth, and honor him with 
the lips, while the heart is far from him. Such offer- 
ing of mere words, however elegant in style, or impres- 

1 Phill. iv. 6. 2 Acts ix. 11. 



PRAYER. 153 

sive in the mode of utterance, God does not account 
prayer. 

Prayer must be expressed in language. Desires and 
devotional feelings do not constitute prayer while unex- 
pressed in words. They may be a fulfilment of duty, 
so far as they go ; but they do not fulfil the duty of 
prayer. For this, expression in words is necessary. It 
is not requisite that the words be pronounced in loud 
outcries, such as the worshippers of Baal used at Carmel. 
Prayer may be made, as in the case of Hannah, by the 
movement of the lips, 1 when no sound is heard ; but the 
very movement of the lips is made with reference to 
words, in which the silent worshipper presents his sup- 
plications to him who hears in secret. 

The language of prayer must be addressed to God. 
Prayer recognises the existence of God, and his ability 
to hear, and to grant the petitions which we offer. In 
the retirement of the closet, we realize that the Omni- 
present God is with us, and we feel assured that he 
hears and understands the suppressed whispers in which 
we make our supplications. Prayer acknowledges all 
the perfections of God. The devotional feelings which 
it expresses, are dependent on a knowledge of these 
perfections. Prayer, therefore, is an act of religious 
worship, in which the suppliant pays divine honor to him 
before whom he bows in humble devotion. 

While prayer is an act of religious worship, it is also 
the familiar and confiding intercourse of a child with 
an affectionate parent. The pious man addresses God 
as his father. The reverence and trust which he 
expresses in his prayer, are filial. Such is the conde- 
scending grace of the infinite God, that we are invited 
to come with boldness to the throne of grace, that we 

1 1 Sam. i. 13. 



154 DUTIES TO GOD. 

may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of 
need ; 1 and, to encourage this filial boldness, we are 
assured that, " Like as a father pitieth his children, so 
the Lord pitieth them that fear him," 2 and "If ye then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your chil- 
dren, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven 
give good things to them that ask him." 3 In accord- 
ance with these assurances of God's condescension and 
love, we have been taught in the Holy Scriptures to 
pray to him as a father : " Our Father who art in 
heaven." 

Its Obligation. 

Duty to God requires the exercise of holy desires 
and devotional affections. Does it also require that 
these be expressed in the language of prayer ? This 
cannot be necessary for God's information, since he 
knows the thoughts of the heart perfectly, though 
unexpressed in language. But our conduct towards 
God, is to be estimated by its tendency rather than its 
actual effect. Rebellion against him tends to dethrone 
him ; and its guilt is to be estimated by this tendency, 
not by any actual effect which the rebellion of finite 
creatures can produce, towards subverting the govern- 
ment of the infinite God. In like manner, our obliga- 
tion to pray is to be determined, not by any informa- 
tion given to God, or any benefit conferred on him, but 
by the tendency of the act, and the disposition which 
it evinces. We are bound to act, as if God needed to 
be informed respecting the desires and feelings of our 
hearts ; and the Holy Scriptures so describe the duty 
of prayer : « In every thing, by prayer and supplication, 
let your requests be made known unto God." 4 

1 Heb. iv. 16. 2 Ps. ciii. 13. 3 Mat. vii. 11. * Phil. iv. 6. 



PRAYER. 155 

Our minds are so constituted*; that they seek inter- 
course with other minds. The social tendency of our 
nature brings us into companionship with other intelli- 
gent beings, and impels us to hold intercourse with 
them. Our moral nature gives an additional impulse in 
the same direction. The obligation to love other beings 
requires intercourse with them. We cannot continue to 
love, without an effort to hold intercourse with the beings 
beloved, if intercourse is possible. Our chief medium 
of intercourse is language. By this we make known 
our thoughts to our fellow-men, and learn their thoughts 
in return. Love to God impels us to seek intercourse 
with him ; and since language is our chief medium of 
intellectual intercourse, we obey the promptings of love, 
when we adopt it as the medium of communing with 
the Father of our spirits. 

Intercourse with God is possible. Our imaginations 
sometimes personify fields and groves ; and we address 
them with language, as if they were intelligent beings. 
But we need no such exercise of imagination, when we 
address God in the language of prayer. Faith realizes 
his presence. His ear is open to hear ; and our inter- 
course with him by language, is as real as if we were 
addressing a venerated earthly friend, visible before 
our eyes, and listening to our words. 

Prayer has always made a part in religious service. 
The heathens offer prayers to their gods. In the Bible, 
the worship of God in the earliest times is thus de- 
scribed : " Then began men to call upon the name of 
the Lord." 1 Throughout the Old Testament, prayer 
was a prominent part of the worship rendered to Jeho- 
vah ; and his temple was called a "house of prayer." 2 
In the New Testament we learn that the disciples of 

1 Gen. iv. 26. 2 Isa. lvi. 7. 



156 DUTIES TO GOD. 

Christ « continued with one accord in prayer and sup- 
plication;" 1 and everywhere throughout its pages, 
prayer appears to have constituted an indispensable 
part of the service to God which the Christian religion 
enjoins. 

In accommodation to our mode of holding intercourse 
with one another, God has made known his will to us 
by language. In the Bible he speaks to us in the lan- 
guage of men ; and in prayer we use the language of 
men in speaking to God. We adopt the same medium 
of intercourse that he has chosen. We slight his con- 
descension and kindness, if we neglect to use it for the 
purpose of holding intercourse with him. 

God is pleased that our love and confidence should 
be expressed in words, as well as in acts of obedience. 
He is pleased when we perform acts which exhibit the 
right disposition of heart ; and, for the same reason, he 
is pleased when this disposition is exhibited in accept- 
able words. Words of affection from a dutiful child, 
are pleasing to an earthly parent ; and God condescend- 
ingly accepts from us such tokens of love as it accords 
with our nature to render ; and he is justly offended if 
we withhold them. 

In the Holy Scriptures, wicked men are described 
by their neglect of prayer; and^ on the other hand, 
men of prayer are approved as righteous, and the favor- 
ites of heaven. In such incidental ways the duty and 
acceptableness of prayer are taught. Moreover, prayer 
is, in various passages of Scripture, expressly com- 
manded : " Take with you words, and turn to the Lord ; 
say unto him," 2 &c. ; " Pray without ceasing." 3 

Prayer may be offered by several persons jointly. 
In this case, one of them utters the prayer in an 
audible voice, and the rest silently unite with their 

1 Acts i. 14. 2 Hosea xiv. 2. 3 1 Thess. v. 17. 



PRAYER. 157 

hearts in the service. The special promise made by 
Christ, when two agree 1 in their petitions, shows that 
union in prayer is specially acceptable to God. 

The obligation of parents to bring up their children 
in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, requires 
that they be taught the duty of prayer. This should 
be done by example, as well as precept ; and hence, 
family worship is an important duty. The neglect of 
this duty, by the heads of families, is criminal, and 
exposes them and their households to the displeasure 
of God : according to the denunciation of the prophet, 
" Pour out thy fury upon the families that call not on 
thy name." 2 

Churches are societies organized for the worship of 
God. Prayer is an indispensable part of divine wor- 
ship ; and must, therefore, constitute a part of all 
acceptable church-service. It is clear, from the Holy 
Scriptures, that the first churches of Christ were accus- 
tomed to unite in public prayer ; and the blessing of 
God on our religious assemblies cannot be expected, if 
this part of the public service is not performed with 
united heartfelt devotion. 

Its Utility. 

By the benevolent arrangements of God, all the 
service which he requires, is made profitable to those 
who render it ; and prayer, therefore, as a duty which 
he has commanded, must have its utility. An inquiry 
into this utility will further demonstrate our obligation 
to pray, and give strong encouragement to the perform- 
ance of the duty. 

The expression of our desires and devotional feelings 
in the language of prayer, tends greatly to strengthen 

1 Matt, xviii. 19. 2 Jer. x. 25. 

14 



158 DUTIES TO GOD. 

them. In seeking suitable words, and in giving them 
utterance, our thoughts must be engaged on the sub- 
jects of our address to God. We deliberately contem- 
plate the good which we ask, the necessity which urges 
us to ask, our unworthiness of it, and the power and 
grace to which we appeal in presenting our petition. 
In offering thanksgiving, we deliberately count over the 
mercies which we have received, and our thoughts dwell 
on the value of the benefits, and on all the circum- 
stances adapted to excite our gratitude for their bestow- 
ment. In expressing penitence, our thoughts neces- 
sarily dwell on our sins and their aggravations; and in 
imploring forgiveness, they are directed to the sacrifice 
of Christ, through which forgiveness is to be obtained; 
and we find a heart-moving power in contemplation of 
his sufferings. In offering adoration, we survey the 
divine perfections ; and the view increases our love and 
reverence. These, and all other holy affections, our 
converse with God stimulates and strengthens. Prayer, 
therefore, tends greatly to promote holiness ; and this 
benefit far excels in value all others which it is possible 
for us to receive. 

Prayer gives constant exercise to self-examination. 
We express the desires and feelings of the heart to the 
Searcher of hearts, and we are therefore compelled to 
examine these desires and feelings with jealous and 
impartial scrutiny. God knows whether we come before 
him with sincerity, and we fear to dissemble in his 
presence. While we open our hearts before him, and 
tell him what is there, we are compelled to look our- 
selves at what we describe; and therefore prayer en- 
larges our self-knowledge. This is a highly-important 
benefit. 

Family prayer is of inestimable value to those who 
have been trained under its influence. The sons and 



PRAYER. 159 

daughters who are accustomed to bow with their parents 
at the family altar, receive impressions which nothing 
can obliterate. Parents may die ; and the associates 
of early days may all be scattered. Years may be 
passed in the cares of life ; and the habitation may be 
removed to a far distant land. But, over intervening 
years and intervening space, the thoughts return to the 
scenes of family devotion, when the father and mother, 
now in heaven, brought the objects of their parental 
love before the Lord, and implored his blessing on them 
for time and eternity. These scenes are hallowed in 
the memory; and children, trained in the midst of 
them, generally exhibit, in future life, the character 
which such training tends to produce. They imitate 
the piety of the parents whose memory they revere, 
and gratefully trace back their multiplied blessings 
received from God, to those prayers which commended 
them to God from early childhood. 

The utility of prayer offered in the public assemblies 
of God's people, has been abundantly demonstrated. 
The devotion of those who unite in the prayer is in- 
creased, and the united petition brings down blessings 
from God. In answer to prayer, the Holy Spirit was 
poured out on the day of Pentecost ; and in answer to 
prayer, all the conquests of the gospel from that day 
have been achieved. Paul requested the prayers of 
the churches that his ministry might be attended with 
success ; * and the spread and power of the gospel, in 
all ages and countries, has been greatly dependent on 
the fervent, effectual prayers of God's people. 

An objection to the efficacy of prayer has been drawn 
from the unchangeableness of God. He is of one mind, 
and none can . turn him ; how then can our petitions 

1 Eph. vi. 18, 19. 



160 DUTIES TO GOD. 

effect any change in his purpose ? Will they procure 
any blessing which it was not previously his design to 
bestow, and which therefore would have been granted, 
though unasked? 

This objection mistakes the nature of the connection 
between the purpose of God, and the order of sequences 
which it establishes. The purpose does not determine 
the future existence of any event, in disregard of its 
relation to appointed antecedents. It has its place, 
according to the purpose of God, in an established 
order of sequences ; and the unchangeableness of the 
purpose does not more effectually determine that an 
event shall happen, than that it shall happen in its 
proper order of sequence. It does not determine that 
a crop shall be reaped, whether it be sown or not ; that 
a man shall live, whether he eat, or obstinately refuse 
food ; or that, men shall be rewarded and punished for 
moral actions, whether the actions have been performed 
or not. God bestows many of his blessings in answer 
to prayer ; and, since prayer is the appointed ante- 
cedent of their being bestowed, it is as necessary in 
order to their bestowment as any physical cause is 
necessary to the production of its proper effect. To 
expect these blessings without prayer, is as irrational 
as to expect a crop without sowing the seed. 

God's unchangeableness establishes the necessity of 
prayer. In ancient times he bestowed blessings in 
answer to prayer ; and very many examples are left on 
record, for our encouragement in the. performance of 
the duty. He declared to his ancient people that it 
was his pleasure to be inquired of by the house of Israel 
for the blessings which they needed. 1 In later times 
he said: "Ye have not, because ye ask not." 2 If at 

1 Ezek. xxxvi. 37. 2 James iv. 2. 



PRAYER. 161 

the present time his blessings may be equally expected, 
whether asked or unasked, God has changed his plan. 
His unchangeableness, therefore, establishes the neces- 
sity of prayer. 

The promises made to prayer assure us of its efficacy. 
" Ask, and ye shall receive." x " If ye, then, being evil, 
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much 
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit 
to them that ask him." 2 We may be unable to see 
clearly the harmony of this promise with the unchange- 
ableness of God's purpose, but we may be assured that 
God has no attribute which can prevent the fulfilment 
of his promise. In this matter, it is wise to take God 
at his word ; and to act like dutiful children, who, in 
things beyond their comprehension, commit themselves 
to the guidance of their parents. 

Our faith is liable, in some cases, to be perplexed 
with the apprehension that answer to prayer is impos- 
sible without a miracle. We pray earnestly that a sick 
friend may be restored to health ; and yet the disease 
may be such that recovery is impossible, without an 
interposition of Providence which shall change the 
established course of nature. If we have no right to 
expect a miracle, how can we, in such cases, exercise 
firm faith in the efficacy of prayer ? 

Prayer is an expression of the desires and feelings 
of the heart ; and, to be acceptable to God, the desires 
and feelings must be in accordance with his will. The 
wicked hate God, and an expression of their hatred 
cannot be pleasing to him. They say to him, "Depart 
from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy 
ways." 3 Such expression of desire cannot constitute 
acceptable prayer. Feelings of pure devotion, and 

1 John xvi. 24. 2 Luke xi. 13. 3 Job xxi. 14. 

14* 



162 DUTIES TO GOD. 

desires fully conformed to the will of God, should 
supply the matter of prayer. If we desire our sick 
friend to be restored, more than we desire the will of 
God to be done, we fail in the spirit of our petition. 
Christ did not so pray, when he said, " Father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass from me : nevertheless, not as 
I will, but as thou wilt." 1 Every petition which the 
Holy Spirit indites in the heart of a pious man, exhibits 
like submission, "because he maketh intercession for the 
saints according to the will of God." 2 The will of 
God is made known in many gracious promises of his 
word. These we are authorized to plead before him, 
with full assurance that our prayer will be heard. But 
faith requires a promise of God to rest on ; and, if 
God has not promised to restore our sick friend, we 
cannot pray for his restoration in faith, otherwise than 
by complete submission to the divine will. God has 
promised to give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him ; 
but be has not promised to suspend the laws of nature 
at our request. For spiritual blessings, the most import- 
ant that we can crave, we are authorized to pray in 
the confidence of faith; but God requires our natural 
desires and affections to be brought into subjection to 
his will. Miracles have been wrought in answer to 
the prayer of faith; but unless God authorizes the 
expectation of a miracle, we cannot pray in faith that 
one may be wrought. Faith may stand up firmly on 
every promise of God ; but where his will has not been 
made known, it is the proper office of faith to lie sub- 
missively at the great Sovereign's feet. 

God's providence overrules the sequences of physical 
events, in wisely arranged harmony with his moral 
government. In the ordinary course of things, moral 

1 Matt. xxvi. 39. 2 Rom. viii. 27. 



PRAYEE. 163 

actions are followed by consequences which indicate the 
approbation or disapprobation of the great Ruler. 
Sometimes, he manifests his approbation of virtue, or 
disapprobation of vice, by what are called special provi- 
dences. These are not properly miracles, but extra- 
ordinary events resulting from natural causes ; and so 
arranged, that they occur at precisely the proper time 
to proclaim, in the ears of men, that there is verily a 
God who judgeth in the earth. We become familiar 
with the ordinary providences of God, as with the tick- 
ing of the pendulum in the movements of a clock ; and 
we forget that they proceed from wise contrivance and 
design ; but special providences, occurring at the pre- 
cise time to signify the will of heaven, like the striking 
of the clock at the precise time to indicate the hour of 
the day, arrest our attention, and deeply impress on 
our minds the conviction, that the Architect of the 
universe has determined the coincidence for our admo- 
nition. The maker of a clock may put his hand to the 
machine to repair it when necessary, or regulate its 
motion or wind it up ; but an application of his hand 
is not required to make it strike the passing hour. So 
God may interpose by miracle in the movements of 
nature, when a miracle is necessary ; but his provi- 
dence, by its ordinary and extraordinary movements, 
in which no miracle occurs, is adapted by his wisdom 
to harmonize with his moral government, and teach 
men his will. God has answered prayer by miracle, 
when miraculous interposition was necessary; but in 
general, the efficacy of prayer has not required a de- 
parture from the established methods of his providence. 
In the ordinary course of things, the benefits of prayer 
are apparent, and pious men have often obtained 
answers to their petitions, by special providences so 
marked, that they have been constrained to accept them 
gratefully, as granted at their supplication. 



164 DUTIES TO GOD. 



SECTION IX. OBSERVANCE OP THE SABBATH. 

The fourth commandment requires the separation of 
one day in seven for rest from ordinary toil. " Re- 
member the sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days 
shalt thou labor, and do all thy work : but the seventh 
day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it thou 
shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy 
daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor 
thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : 
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh 
day ; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath-day, and 
hallowed it." 1 

The word " sabbath" signifies rest. The necessity 
of rest to animal nature, is provided for in part by the 
regular return of night ; but even our days must not be 
wholly devoted to toil. Facts which have been learned 
by attentive observation, appear to justify the belief 
that laboring animals, which are allowed to rest one 
day in seven, live longer, and in the end perform more 
service, than those which are required to work every 
day without intermission. For this, or for some other 
reason known to God, he has chosen to require that 
irrational animals shall enjoy the rest of the Holy Day, 
as well as man. 

But the appointment of the Sabbath was with a 
higher end in view than the mere relief of animal 
nature. It is to be kept "holy," and is called "the 
Sabbath of the Lord thy God." The work prohibited 
is called " thy work ;" and hence, work may be per- 
formed on this day for God. It is his day, and should 
be employed in his worship and service. 

1 Ex. xx. 8-12. 



OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 165 

The Sabbath-day is especially appropriate for the 
public worship of God. It was commanded by Moses 
to be "an holy convocation;" 1 and Christ sanctioned 
the use of the Sabbath for public worship, by meeting 
on that day with the Jews in the synagogue, and taking 
a part in the services. If we neglect public worship 
on the Sabbath, we shall fail to attain a most important 
end. of the institution. 

The Sabbath should be used for the reading and 
study of God's word, for imparting and receiving reli- 
gious instruction, for meditation and prayer, for family 
religion, and for works of mercy. The Jews super- 
stitiously objected to Christ's healing on the Sabbath ; 
but he taught, that mercy to animals in leading them to 
water, and mercy to men, in relieving their afflictions, 
were suitable services for the holy day. 2 

Works of necessity are admissible on the Sabbath. 
We may relieve our own animal wants, as we relieve 
those of others. We may meet necessities which the 
providence of God imposes on us, and regard the act 
as performed in his service ; but when we obey neces- 
sities of our own creating, we are doing our own work, 
and therefore violating the Lord's Sabbath. 

Mental labor for mere pleasure or secular benefit, is 
prohibited. We are forbidden to find our own pleasure, 
as well as to do our own works. 3 The reading of books 
for amusement is inconsistent with the sanctity of the 
day ; and all other employments which have pleasure 
only in view. 

The obligation to observe the Sabbath extends to 
servants ; and masters are criminal who require service 
of them in violation of the commandment. They 
should be taught their duty in respect of the holy day, 
and aided and encouraged in the performance of it. 

1 Lev. xxiii. 3. 2 Luke xiii. 15, 16. 3 Isa. lviii. 13. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 



SECTION I. RIGHTS. 

Thus far we have used the word right as an adjective, 
to denote a quality of moral action. But there is also 
a substantive use of it, derived from the former. It is 
right for a father to chastise his disobedient son ; and 
we may express this truth thus : a father has a right 
to chastise his disobedient son. It is right for a man 
to receive obedience from his children ; or to possess 
the estate which he has inherited from his ancestors ; 
or to claim the house which he has bought with his 
money. In all these cases, we may vary the phrase- 
ology, and say, a man has a right to receive, to possess, 
to claim, &c. ; or we may omit these infinitive verbs, 
and say more briefly, a man has a right to obedience 
from his children ; to the estate inherited from his 
ancestors ; and to the house which he has bought with 
his money. 

Though it is often a matter of indifference whether 
we say, It is right for him, or He has a right, yet these 
phrases have not perfect identity of meaning. We 
express a man's obligation when we say, " It is right 
for him to pay his debts;" but the sentence, " He has 
a right to pay his debts," does not convey this sense, 
and cannot be appropriately used, unless we conceive 
the payment of debts a privilege of which a man may 

(160) 



RIGHTS. 167 

be deprived. In both cases right is opposed to wrong : 
in the first, to wrong done by the individual himself ; 
in the second, to wrong done by others, who deprive 
him of what they ought to permit him to enjoy. The 
latter mode of speaking, therefore, marks the moral 
obligation, not of the individual himself, but of others 
with respect to him. Hence, a man's rights are the 
enjoyments, or means of enjoyment, which all persons 
are under moral obligation to allow him to use at his 
pleasure. 

Rights are exclusive. According to the definition 
just given, a man cannot have a right to anything, if 
another may rightfully deprive him of its enjoyment ; 
and, therefore, his right must exclude any right of the 
other to the same thing. 

When right is used as an adjective, it signifies con- 
formity to the moral obligations of the agent ; but when 
used as a noun, right and obligation have not the same 
boundary, if both refer to the same individual. Though 
I have a right to travel on foot, I am not under obliga- 
tion, but may prefer to ride. To make the boundaries 
identical, the right must be referred to one person, and 
the obligation to all other persons. Thus, I have a 
right to travel on foot, and all other persons are under 
obligation not to hinder me from the exercise of this 
right. There may be common rights : for example, 
one man has as much right as another to warm in the 
sunbeams, or bathe in the ocean. But the right of 
each one excludes the right of all others to interfere. 

The rule of right, in any application of the term, is 
the will of God. We are so formed as to need air for 
breathing, and light for seeing; and since God has 
supplied us with air and light, we know it to be his will 
that we should use them. We have therefore a right 
to them. On the same principle, we have a right to 



168 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

the productions of the ground for food ; and if natural 
religion cannot establish our right to the flesh of ani- 
mals for food, revelation establishes it beyond question. 
God has given us all things richly to enjoy; and every 
individual has a right to enjoy them, under such limit- 
ations as the will of God may determine. 

Man is formed for society, and it is manifestly the 
will of God that he should live in society. Hence 
arises a necessity, in many cases, for dividing the means 
of enjoyment. Light and air are so abundant, that no 
conflict of claim for them can exist ; but food, clothing, 
and many other good things, are more or less dependent 
on the labor of man, and need to be distributed by rule. 
This rule is the will of God. He has not distributed 
the means of enjoyment equally to all. Some are rich, 
and others poor. Some have their abode in wealthy 
places, where blessings abound ; others are born and 
die where want and wretchedness prevail. Some have 
strength of intellectual and corporeal faculties ; others 
are weak in mind and body. Some have habitual 
health ; others are diseased from the cradle to the 
grave. God has distributed to every one as he has 
pleased ; and has not left it entirely to the will or judg- 
ment of men, to divide among themselves the gifts of 
his providence. Yet the distribution is in part de- 
pendent on human agency, and one man may wrong- 
fully appropriate to himself what another ought to 
enjoy. In this conflict of human claims, we need a 
rule for determining the rights of each individual. 

Have all men equal rights ? The doctrine has been 
maintained that, however diversified the conditions of 
men, the rights of all are equal. In what sense is this 
doctrine true ? 

A man with but one eye, has as much right to it, as 
a more favored man has to both of his ; and to put out 



RIGHTS. 169 

his one eye, would be as great an injury, as to put out 
the two eyes of the other. Their rights are equal in 
one respect, and unequal in another. The distinction 
needs to be expressed in suitable language ; and I know 
none more suitable, than to say, that their rights are 
equal in sacredness, but unequal in extent. The right 
to the one eye is as perfect and exclusive, as the right 
to the two eyes ; and should be as sacredly guarded 
from all infringement ; and yet it is true, that one man 
has a right to two eyes, and the other a right to but 
one. Any attempt to equalize the extent of their rights, 
by giving to the one-eyed man some control over one 
of the other man's eyes, would be a foolish and unavail- 
ing opposition to the manifested will of Divine Provi- 
dence. 

The use of our eyes is a natural right ; and the exam- 
ple just adduced demonstrates, that even natural rights 
admit diversity of extent. Were there but one man on 
earth, he would have a right to use his eyes in the pro- 
curing of food ; and also a right to use for food any of 
the earth's productions, which are adapted to gratify 
his appetite and nourish his body. His right to the 
use of these, would be in as manifest accordance with 
the will of God, as the use of the eyes which God has 
given him. But God has placed a multitude of human 
beings on the earth, all of whom need support ; and it 
is manifestly his will that the productions of the ground 
should be divided among them. Some rule of division 
becomes necessary ; and this rule, whatever it may be, 
distinguishes the social rights of man from his solitudal 
rights. 

If one man has a natural right to pluck and eat the 
fruit of a tree which the Lord God has planted, another 
has the same right ; but, in establishing a rule of divi- 
sion, there would be an obvious fitness in giving to each 
15 



170 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

man the use of the fruit which he had plucked, and 
withholding from him the use of that which had been 
plucked by the other. If each has a natural right to 
the animals of the forest for food, each has a social 
right to those animals only which he himself has caught, 
and is bound to refrain from using those taken by the 
other. The labor of the parties is the ground on which 
this division of rights is established. On the same 
principle, as society improves, one man acquires a right 
to the fruit of a tree which he has planted and culti- 
vated, to the animals which he has tamed, to the house 
which he has built, and to the ground which he has sub- 
dued and enclosed. Other rules of division are after- 
wards introduced ; and all these reject the supposition, 
that the social rights of all men are equal in extent. 

But social rights, however different in extent, are 
equal in sacredness. The poor man who possesses but 
one ewe lamb, has as much right to it, as his rich neigh- 
bor who abounds in flocks and herds: and to take from 
him his one lamb, is a crime as great, and as offensive 
to God, as to take away the entire possessions of the 
other. It is the will of God, that we should have the 
poor always with us, that whensoever we will we may 
do them good. If all distinction of property were 
abolished, opportunity for kindness to the poor, a virtue 
highly commended in the word of God, would be lost ; 
the eighth commandment, Thou shalt not steal, would be 
rendered useless ; and the wise regulation of natural 
and revealed religion, He that will not tvork shall not 
eat, would be discarded. According to the manifest will 
of God, the rights of property are unequal in extent ; 
but God teaches the equal sacredness of the poor man's 
rights, and denounces judgments on those who defraud 
the poor, or withhold the wages of the hireling. 

Besides the distinction of rich and poor, there are 



RIGHTS. 171 

other distinctions in human society, attended with diver- 
sity in the extent of rights. When our first parents 
were banished from Eden, they went forth into the wide 
world, the only two human beings on earth, with rights 
of unequal extent. To one appertained the rights of 
the husband ; to the other, the rights of the wife. When 
sons were born to them, a new distinction of rights 
arose : the parents had theirs, and the children others 
differing in extent. All this diversity was according to 
the will of God, who commanded the wife to be in sub- 
jection to her husband, and gave to the parents author- 
ity over their children. Any theory which makes the 
rights of husband, wife, parent, and child, all equal in 
extent, opposes the will of God, and the order and 
happiness of domestic society. 

The first form of civil government appears to have 
been patriarchal. The diversity of rank and authority 
in the family, was extended to the wider society of the 
tribe or nation. God, who established the distinctions 
in the family, has sanctioned those in the nation. " The 
powers that be are ordained of God." 1 Children are 
required to obey their parents in the Lord, 2 and because 
it is well pleasing unto the Lord, 3 and the same conside- 
rations are urged on subjects to induce obedience to 
their rulers. " Submit yourselves to every ordinance 
of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, 
as supreme ; or unto governors, as unto them that are 
sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for 
the praise of them that do well." 4 Parents may exer- 
cise authority over their children unwisely and cruelly ; 
and rulers may tyrannize over their subjects. They 
who suffer under such government, whether from 
parents or civil rulers, are bound to submit to the evil, 

1 Rom. xiii. 1. 2 Eph. vi. 1. 3 Col. iii. 20. * 1 Pet. ii. 13. 



172 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

as brought on them by Providence for their trial, just 
as they submit to poverty, disease, and other evils 
incident to human life. 

The relations of the family, and of civil government, 
are so extensive as to affect mankind generally. All 
men from the days of Adam and Eve, have sustained 
the relation of child ; and a large part of them, that 
of parent. The world is divided into nations, and men 
are among the governing or the governed. But there 
are other relations of less extent, as that of the master 
and the servant, which have the sanction of God. He 
commands servants to obey their masters in singleness 
of heart, as unto Christ; 1 and he commands masters 
how to exercise their authority. 

God's providence determines the very great diversity 
of condition in human society; and the inequality in 
the extent of their rights, which necessarily results 
from this diversity of condition, is according to his 
will, and designed for the general good ; but amidst all 
this diversity, the rights of all men are equally sacred. 
The cruelty of a father may violate the rights of his 
son, the tyranny of a king may violate the rights of 
his subject, and the oppression of a master may violate 
the rights of his servant. In all these cases, God 
holds to account those whom he has invested with 
authority, and will be the avenger of the weak and 
dependent. It has appeared good to the wisdom that 
arranged the moral government of the world, that, in 
this state of probation, some men shall be under the 
authority and in the power of others ; but a fearful 
reckoning awaits those who abuse that authority and 
power to the injury of their fellow-men. God does 
not require that all distinctions of rank and authority 

1 Eph. vi. 5. 



RIGHTS. 173 

should be abolished ; but he requires that the rights of 
all should be held sacred. 

Acts of reciprocity do not change the extent of 
rights, or disturb the inequality between them. If a 
rich man buys a horse from a poor man, and gives him 
a fair equivalent for it, the rights of the parties are 
just as extensive and just as unequal as they were 
before the transaction. If a fair equivalent is not 
given, the rights of the poor man are rendered less 
extensive, and are so far violated. The law of recip- 
rocity forbids this encroachment on his rights, but does 
not require that the extent of his rights should be 
increased. 

The Holy Scriptures bind us to respect the sacred- 
ness of other men's rights, by the well-known precepts: 
"Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 1 "All 
things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 
do ye even so to them." 2 These precepts do not bind 
to an equal division of rights, whether natural or ac- 
quired ; but they require us to avoid encroachment on 
the rights of another, with as much care as if our own 
rights were concerned. We must put ourselves in his 
stead ; and in all our dealings with him, respect his 
rights, guarding them as sacredly as our own. If the 
precepts inculcate any duty beyond this, it belongs to 
the department of benevolence, not of reciprocity. 

Classification of Rights. 

Rights are alienable, when they can be transferred 
to another ; inalienable, when they cannot. The right 
to a house, or a horse, may be transferred by sale or 
gift ; but the right of private judgment, in matters of 
religion, cannot be transferred : hence, the former right 

1 Lev. xix. 18. 2 Matt. vii. 12. 

15* 



174 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

is called alienable; the latter, inalienable. Those rights 
are inalienable, the relinquishment of which would in- 
volve a violation of duty. 

Rights are perfect, when they may be enforced ; im- 
perfect, when they may not. Rights founded on reci- 
procity, and well defined by contract or otherwise, 
become cognisable by human law, and are called perfect. 
But the right of a beggar to alms cannot be enforced, 
because it is founded on benevolence, not on recipro- 
city; and the right of a benefactor to gratitude cannot 
be enforced, because the obligation cannot be measured 
by human law. The latter rights are therefore im- 
perfect. 

Natural rights, as opposed to social, are those which 
appertain to man in a state of solitude ; as opposed to 
adventitious, they are those which do not depend on 
accidental circumstances ; as opposed to acquired, they 
are those which are not obtained by labor, purchase, 
inheritance, or gift ; as opposed to legal, they are those 
which perfect justice would accord to each individual, 
and which the laws fail, through human imperfection, 
to define with exactness. When it is said that men, in 
the establishment of civil government, relinquish some 
of their natural rights to obtain protection for the rest, 
the phrase natural rights appears to import the rights 
that would belong to men in a perfectly virtuous society, 
which would need no government. Man is by nature 
formed for society; and it is, therefore, inaccurate to 
consider those rights only natural, which appertain to 
a state of solitude ; but it is a matter of minor import- 
ance how the term is applied, if it be well defined, and 
be used in a uniform sense throughout each process of 
reasoning in which it may be employed. 



RIGHT OF PROPERTY. 175 

SECTION II. JUSTICE. 

Justice is the disposition to give to every one his 
proper share of the enjoyments which God has provided 
for men, or it is the conduct which corresponds to this 
disposition. 

Justice is divided into distributive and commutative. 

Distributive justice belongs to government, and is 
concerned in dividing out to the several members of 
society their proper extent of rights, and also in subse- 
quently varying that extent by rewards or punishments. 

Commutative justice is fair dealing in the exchange 
of commodities. When two parties transfer rights to 
each other, the exchange is just, if the rights trans- 
ferred are equal. Hence, commutative justice makes 
no change in the extent of rights. 

The duties of reciprocity refer to commutative justice, 
and are violated by the wrong-doing which lessens the 
extent of any one's rights, or impairs his enjoyment 
of them. 

SECTION III. RIGHT OP PROPERTY. 

Proof. 

All right of property is founded on the will of the 
Creator. We, and all that we can claim, belong to 
God ; and we have, therefore, no right to anything in 
exclusion of his right : but it is his will that, of the 
various good things which he bestows, while some are 
the common property of all, others are distributed 
among them so that each may claim and use his own, 
to the exclusion of all other persons. That this is the 
will of God, may be proved by natural religion and by 
revelation. 

Natural religion proves that God designed men to 



176 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

have property. The distinction of mine and thine is 
expressed in every language ; and the most uncultivated 
nations have use for terms to express it, because the 
idea is common to all men. At a very early age, chil- 
dren begin to claim things as their own, and show a 
sense of being wronged, if deprived of them. The 
advantages resulting to society from the division of 
property among individuals, are obvious. Were all 
things common to the industrious and the idle, the 
careful and the improvident, labor would cease for want 
of reward ; nothing would be accumulated for future 
use, and want and suffering would become universal. 
In countries where the right of property is but par- 
tially respected, the evils which have been enumerated 
have prevailed. When the right of property is ren- 
dered insecure by civil war, or by despotic power, in- 
dustry languishes, and the arts of life are neglected. 
On the other hand, those nations enjoy the highest 
prosperity and happiness where the laws give security 
to the owners of property. These facts suffice to de- 
monstrate that the right of property has the sanction 
of God, and ought to be respected by men. 

Revelation gives further assurance that the right of 
property accords with the will of God. The command- 
ment " Thou sjialt not steal," would be unmeaning, if 
all men had equal right to everything. By giving this 
commandment, God. has taken the right of property 
under his guardianship. The duty of giving to the 
poor is everywhere enforced in the Holy Scriptures, 
with frequent and abundant promises of divine reward ; 
but this duty would be impossible, if the division of 
property, and the distinction between rich and poor, did 
not exist. Extortion, a crime which the Bible repro- 
bates, would also be impossible, if everything which the 



RIGHT OF PROPERTY. 177 

oppressor's hand could grasp, were his own by unques- 
tionable right. 

How acquired. 

Our right to everything that we enjoy, is derived 
from the gift of God. He benevolently provides for 
our wants ; and, beyond our wants, opens to us sources 
of pleasure. What he gives, we have a right to enjoy, 
under such restrictions as his will ordains. Other crea- 
tures, equally the objects of his care, have a right to 
share his bounty with us ; and, in distributing the good 
which he has provided, social regulations, determining 
the right of property, become necessary. 

Men in society acquire a right to what is the fruit 
of their labor. The house which an individual has 
built, is, of right, his own ; and he has a right to in- 
habit it, to the exclusion of his neighbor. In like 
manner, he has a right to the wild animals or fish which 
he has caught for food ; to the produce of the ground 
which he has cultivated ; and to the fruit of the tree 
which he has planted. In the origin of society, the 
occupancy of lands, for the purpose of cultivating them, 
gives a right to them — which ceases when they cease to 
be occupied ; but in a more advanced state of society, 
regulations are established, giving permanent right to 
lands. Such regulations are needed to induce a careful 
cultivation of the earth, and to multiply its productions 
to an extent equal to the wants of its inhabitants. 
Divine sanction was given to it, in the settlement of 
the Hebrew tribes in the land of Canaan. 

A right to property may be acquired by exchange, or 
by gift. He who has produced a quantity of corn by 
cultivating the ground, may exchange a part of it for 
animals which a hunter has taken in the chase ; or he 
may give a part to a poor neighbor, to gratify his own 



178 DUTIES OF EECIPROCITY. 

benevolent desire. The rights so acquired, whether by 
exchange or by gift, are as much in accordance with 
God's will, and deserve to be held as sacred, as those 
which are acquired by labor, or the direct gift of Pro- 
vidence. 

The right of property may be acquired by will, or by 
inheritance. A right to use property as one chooses, 
implies, not only a right to give it during life, but also 
to bequeath it at death to whomsoever he pleases. 
When an individual dies, without disposing of his pro- 
perty by will, the regulations of society transfer it by 
inheritance to his children, or other near relatives. 

A species of right to property is acquired by posses- 
sion. The right is not absolute : but merely exclusive 
of all who have not a better right. If the fact that 
one man has obtained possession of a house by fraud* 
gave right to another to drive him out by force, a third 
might, with equal justice, dispossess the second ; and 
similar changes might proceed without end. To guard 
against such mutations, society wisely admits the im- 
perfect right of possession ; and in some cases, after a 
lapse of time, makes it permanent and complete. 

Sow violated. 

The right of property is violated when the property 
is taken without the. consent of the owner duly obtained. 
Of this violation there are several species. 

The right of property is violated when property is 
taken without the knowledge of the owner. This is 
theft. The thief may come in the darkness of night, 
or may enter the house in the absence of the family, or 
may take goods from the merchant's counter, while he 
is busy with other customers. In all such cases every 
man's moral judgment condemns the deed. It is no 
justification that the amount taken is small, that the 



RIGHT OF PROPERTY. 179 

owner will not miss it, that he has an abundance left, 
that the thief needs it more than the owner, or that the 
thief has never consented to the unequal distribution 
, of property which prevails in society. With such pleas 
dishonest men may strive to appease their consciences 
and harden themselves in crime ; but God's command, 
" Thou shalt not steal," is sufficient to set aside all such 
pleas. Some persons manifest less tenderness of con- 
science in taking what belongs to the public, on the 
ground that they are a part of the public. But other 
persons also are a part of the public, and the consent 
of all is necessary to justify the deed. He who cheats 
the revenue, or the post-office, or the turnpike, is as 
guilty as he who steals from an individual. 

In general theft is not to be determined by the value 
of what is taken. To steal a dime is as truly a dis- 
honest act as to steal a dollar. But there may be cases 
in which the smallness of the amount will, in peculiar 
circumstances, justify the presumption of the owner's 
consent, though not formally obtained. If, in an 
emergency, I desire to borrow a post-office stamp from 
an intimate friend, and find him out of his office, my 
conscience would not charge me with dishonesty for 
presuming on his consent that I may take a stamp from 
his desk : but I could not honestly take a thousand 
dollars from his drawer on a like presumption. On the 
same principle I may take an "apple from my friend's 
orchard, when I cannot take away his crop of apples 
without his formal consent. The truly conscientious 
man will never act on presumed consent, if there can 
be # possible doubt whether the owner would grant it 
if present. 

The right of property is violated when property is 
! taken by force. This is robbery. He commits robbery 
who forcibly takes from a traveller his coat or his purse. 



180 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

The case is substantially the same if he obtains a deli- 
very of the purse by putting the traveller in fear. 
Consent violently obtained, is not consent, and the 
crime of robbery is aggravated by the threat of 
violence. 

The right of property is violated, when the owner's 
consent to part with it is unduly obtained. This is 
fraud or cheating. Cases of this kind are of frequent 
occurrence. A counterfeit note is passed as if it were 
genuine ; a diseased horse is sold or exchanged as if he 
were sound ; damaged goods are sold as if undamaged. 
In such cases consent is obtained dishonestly. The 
modes are innumerable, in which consent to part with 
money or other property, may be obtained unjustifiably. 
The beggar may obtain it by a false tale of wants or 
sufferings ; the seller of corn may obtain it, by induc- 
ing a false belief of approaching scarcity ; the druggist 
may obtain it, by exciting the fears or faith of one to 
whom he offers his nostrum. Commercial honesty is so 
frequently and so readily violated, that a careful study 
of its requirements is necessary to every one who par- 
ticipates in the ordinary transactions of trade. 

The use of false weights and measures is another 
mode in which the right of property may be violated. 
This iniquity is frequently reprobated in the Holy 
Scriptures. x 

SECTION IV. SELLER AND BUYER. 

It is often inconvenient for those who need an article 
of merchandise, to obtain it directly from the manufac- 
turer or producer. A class of persons, intermediate 
between the producer and the consumer, render impor- 
tant benefits to society, by keeping for sale such articles 

1 Prov. xi. 1, xx. 10 : Amos viii. 5. 



SELLEE AND BUYER. 181 

as are generally needed in the community. These per- 
sons employ capital and skill in their business, and are 
entitled to fair remuneration for the service which they 
render to the public, if rendered in conformity to the 
laws of commercial justice. 

He who offers to sell, ought to be content with the 
market price. If the article has risen in value, while 
it has been in his possession, he is entitled to the bene- 
fit of the rise ; and if it has fallen, he has no right to 
keep up the price that he may make his usual profit. 
A part of his skill in business, consists in judging of 
the probable changes which will take place in the value 
of commodities ; and, as he has the benefit of his skill 
when they rise in value, he ought to suffer the loss 
which accrues from the failure of his skill in the other 
case. 

He who opens a store for the sale of articles is bound 
to sell them, if the market price be offered. If he 
keeps back his article with the expectation of a higher 
price, he deceives the public, and does not fulfil 4he 
expectations which he has created. He invites cus- 
tomers who desire the articles he deals in, and virtually 
promises to supply them to the best of his ability. This 
promise he violates, if he refuses to sell. He is not 
bound, however, to sell articles which do not belong to 
his professed business. The china merchant is bound 
to sell his china ; but not the store-house in which he 
keeps it. 

He who sells, is bound to sell a good article, and if 
he knows it to be damaged, he is bound to inform the 
buyer. A part of the skill for which he is remunerated, 
consists in selecting good articles ; and, if he fails in 
his selection, he ought not to permit the buyer to pay 
for the failure. Sales at auction form an exception to 
this rule, because the auctioneer does not profess to ex- 
16 



182 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

ercise skill in judging and selecting the articles which 
he sells. 

He who sells, is under no obligation to judge whether 
the buyer needs the article which he offers. If he gives 
good advice on this point, it is an act of benevolence to 
which he is not bound by mere justice. If he purposely 
misleads the buyer, that he may get sale for his article, 
he is guilty of fraud. 

Some one may plead, that, since these rules arc not 
generally observed, he would be unable to compete in 
business with others, if he observed them strictly. This 
plea cannot be admitted. No man has a right to be dis- 
honest for any consideration. If necessity would justify 
want of strict integrity, it might be made a plea for 
any other immorality. But, even on the score of 
gain, the plea is untenable. Artifice may gain tempo- 
rary advantage ; but, in the end, honesty is the best 
policy. 

The buyer is under similar obligations. He should 
be willing to give the market value of the article which 
he buys ; and, if this price yields a profit to the seller, 
he ought to desire no abatement on this account, for 
the profit is the just remuneration for the capital and 
skill which the seller has employed. To wish this re- 
muneration relinquished, is virtually to wish the seller 
to serve for nothing. 

The buyer has no right to use any artifice, to induce 
the seller to part with his property below its true value. 
The circulation of reports by which the value of certain 
articles in market becomes lessened, is a dishonest 
stratagem to which buyers sometimes resort. The 
excitement of groundless fears in the seller's mind, to 
make him lessen the price of his property, is unjustifi- 
able. In general, all efforts to deceive the seller as to 
the true value of his property, are dishonest. Such 



TEMPORARY TRANSFER OF RIGHT. 183 

dishonesty was practised in the days of Solomon. "It 
is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer ; but when he 
is gone his way, then he boasteth." 1 

A bargain is completed, when the consent of both 
parties has been expressed. Custom, or the necessity 
of the case, or the stipulations of the contract, may 
allow time for the delivery of the property; but, in 
general, all the risk of its durability, or of its depreci- 
ation in value, is, from the time of the contract, trans- 
ferred to the new proprietor. 

SECTION V. TEMPORARY TRANSFER OF RIGHT. 

In some cases, the right of property is transferred 
for a time, with the understanding that, at the end of 
the time, it shall revert to the former proprietor. 
Thus, a horse may be hired for a day, or a house rented 
for a year. In such cases, due care is to be taken of 
the property by him who receives it in possession ; no 
other use is to be made of it than that which the con- 
tract provided for ; it is to be returned at the end of 
the stipulated time ; and the stipulated remuneration 
for its use is to be paid. 

The proper remuneration for the temporary use of 
property, depends on its value, and the risk to which 
it is exposed. Its value is so much capital invested ; 
and, since capital is profitable to the owner, no one has 
a right to use the capital of another, without equitable 
remuneration. The laws have undertaken to fix the 
proper estimate for the temporary use of capital, by 
establishing a rate of interest for money loaned. But 
the risk which attends the temporary use of property, 
is too various to be determined by law. The mere risk 
is sometimes taken by insurance companies, who derive 

1 Prov. xx. 14. 



184 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

no benefit from the capital invested. Insurance from 
fire, from loss at sea, &c, must be estimated according 
to the nature of the case. He who rents a house, 
should pay for the use of so much capital as is invested 
in its value, for the diminution in value which it will 
suffer from his use of it, and for the risk of fire while 
he occupies it. Since the contract determines the 
amount of rent to be paid, it must also determine the 
use to be made of the property, and the risk to which 
it is to be exposed. He who rents a house as a dwell- 
ing-place for a family, and afterwards uses it as a stable 
for horses, or as a place for experiments with gun- 
powder, violates his contract, and is guilty of dishonesty. 
He who lets out property for temporary use, is bound, 
like him who sells, to furnish a good article ; or, if it 
be defective, to make known the defects before the 
contract is completed. He who hires out a horse for a 
service to which he is unfitted by disease or untract- 
ableness, and he who lets out a house with leaky roof 
or smoky chimneys, without making the defects known, 
are guilty of fraud. 

Usury. 

The term usury is employed in the Holy Scriptures to 
denote the compensation allowed for the use of money ; 
but this is now generally expressed by the term in- 
terest^ and the name usury is applied exclusively to a 
rate of interest exceeding that which is established by 
law. Hence, usury is a crime against the law. 

The propriety of establishing a rate of interest by 
law is questionable. The value of capital is fluctuat- 
ing ; and when it rises high, conscientious men will not 
lend its use in the form of money, but prefer to in- 
vest it in houses which may be let out at a high rent 
without violating the law, or to dispose of it in some 
other manner in which it will bring them a large 



SERVICE AND AGENCY. 185 

return. The consequence is, that the lending of money 
becomes confined to those who are willing to violate 
the law; and, from the absence of competition, they 
are enabled to obtain a far higher rate of interest than 
could be obtained, if there were no law prohibiting 
usury. The effect of the prohibition, therefore, is, to 
give a premium to those who are willing to violate 
the law, and to put it in their power to oppress all who 
are compelled to borrow. 

The considerations which have been presented, are 
not sufficient to justify a citizen in violating the law 
prohibiting usury. The law is not against the law of 
God, and therefore ought to be obeyed, until it has been 
repealed. But the subject demands the attention of 
legislators, who would probably advance the general 
good, by allowing the interest on money loaned, like 
the rent of a house, to be determined by contract. The 
law might still fix a rate of interest to be allowed, in 
the absence of a contract, just as it disposes of the pro- 
perty of those who die without a will. 

SECTION VI. SERVICE AND AGENCY. 

In barter or sale, one material commodity is ex- 
changed for another ; but cases occur, in which money 
or other property is given in exchange for service ; as 
when a laborer is hired to perform a day's work, or a 
physician is employed to attend a case of sickness. 

The master or employer of a hired servant is bound 
to give a fair compensation for the service rendered, 
and to pay the wages punctually. The Scriptures pro- 
claim the displeasure of God against those who oppress 
the hireling, and withhold his wages. The servant is 
bound on his part to render, to the best of his ability, 
the kind and amount of service which he has stipulated 
to perform ; and to be content with his wages. 
16* 



186 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

When an individual is employed to serve another, by 
transacting business for him with a third party, the 
employee is denominated agent, and the employer prin- 
cipal. The acts of the agent bind the principal, so far 
as he confines himself to the proper business of his 
agency ; but no further. If a clerk in a store receives 
money for his employer, and appropriates it to his own 
use, the employer must suffer the loss ; but if a cus- 
tomer should pay money to the merchant's coachman, 
the customer is bound to run the risk of loss, because 
the coachman is not an authorized agent for the receiv- 
ing of money. 

If an individual fraudulently claims to be the agent 
of one who has not appointed him, the third party who 
accredits him, must suffer any loss which may accrue 
from his too credulous confidence. The fact that an 
agent has been appointed, is sometimes made known by 
public announcement, and sometimes by written creden- 
tials given to the agent. It has also been held, that 
if the principal has in any one case acknowledged him- 
self bound by the acts of the agent, he continues to 
be bound in all similar cases, till he has given notice to 
the contrary. 

The agent is bound to serve his principal to the best 
of his ability, according to the nature and design of the 
service for which he is employed. He is bound, in 
simple agency, to obey precisely the instructions of the 
principal. But there are cases in which this obligation 
becomes modified. In professional agency, as when 
physicians or lawyers are employed in the proper busi- 
ness of their profession, they are not equally bound to 
obey instructions. They are employed because of their 
superior skill ; and this skill should be exerted for the 
benefit of the employer, according to their own judg- 
ment. A physician has no right to give, at the desire 



INJURY TO CHARACTER. 187 

of his patient, drugs that will poison him. A lawyer 
has no right, because his client desires it, to manage a 
suit in a manner which will render it unsuccessful. Pro- 
fessional men are bound to regard, not only the inter- 
ests of the employer, but also their own reputation ; 
and, if they cannot faithfully exercise their professional 
skill, they ought to relinquish the case. 

Legislators are professional agents, employed to 
make laws, because of their supposed qualifications for 
this service. They are, therefore, not under obligation 
to make bad laws at the desire of their constituents. 
Whether they are bound to resign, rather than disobey 
the instructions of their constituents, is a question on 
which different opinions have been maintained. Where 
the Constitution of the country prescribes an election 
for a term of years, and makes no provision by which 
the electors may recall the agent whom they have chosen 
and duly appointed, it is by no means clear that he is 
bound to retire from office at their request. 

SECTION VII. INJURY TO CHARACTER. 

A man's character is the assemblage of his qualities, 
intellectual, social, and moral ; and these constitute his 
essential wealth. Rank and condition of life, and all 
external possessions, are merely accidental, and, though 
present to-day, may be absent to-morrow. Such are 
the changes observed in the history of human life, that 
the lot of each individual has been imagined to be de- 
termined by a blind and fickle goddess, called Fortune ; 
and the instability of her gifts has been represented by 
the revolution of a wheel, which elevates at one moment 
to the height of prosperity, and depresses at the next 
to the depths of adversity. Revelation pronounces all 
external riches uncertain, 1 and describes them as making 

1 1 Tim. vi. 17. 



188 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

themselves wings, and flying away; 1 and bids us seek 
durable riches. 2 When, in the fluctuations of human 
affairs, a man's fortunes become shipwrecked, and all 
external good is hopelessly lost, if he possesses within 
himself those qualities which constitute true worth, he 
is rich in his poverty. Nor is this all. Death strips 
man of all external good. Power, rank, riches, what- 
ever of these fortune may have given, if it chances to 
continue through life, is certainly lost at death. " We 
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that 
we can carry nothing out." 3 But he who has the in- 
ternal wealth of a pure character, and is rich toward 
God, will bear his wealth with him when he leaves the 
world behind him, and all that is so attractive and so 
highly prized in this life of empty show and delusive 
hopes. 

Wealth of character is not kept in strong boxes, 
where thieves may break through and steal. No one 
can take it from us without our consent ; but it is not, 
therefore, out of danger. Our first parents were be- 
guiled into sin, and lost the purity and innocence which 
constituted their essential worth, rather than their pos- 
session of Eden, and their dominion over all the crea- 
tures of earth. In the history of fallen man it has been 
found everywhere true, that evil communications cor- 
rupt good manners. Men have been tempters of their 
fellow-men, and are but too successful auxiliaries in 
this service to the grand tempter of the human race. 
The thief who takes away property by stealth, and the 
robber who takes it by violence, can do but little harm. 
Even the slanderer, who robs men of reputation, cannot 
deprive them of virtue and a pure conscience. But he 
who robs me of these, makes me poor indeed. My 

1 Prov. xxiii. 5. 2 Prov. viii. 18 ; Matt. vi. 19. 3 1 Tim. vi. 7. 



INJURY TO CHARACTER. 189 

self-approbation, my conscious worth, my peace of mind, 
my assurance of God's approbation, are all gone ; and 
what have I left but poverty most abject, and wretched- 
ness most complete ? 

The criminality of seducing men from virtue is darkly 
and impressively exhibited in the Holy Scriptures. 
Jeroboam is presented as odious and execrable, because 
he "made Israel to sin." 1 The Pharisees are con- 
demned because they compass sea and land to make one 
proselyte, who, when made, was two-fold more the child 
of hell than themselves. 2 The terrible woe pronounced 
on Babylon was for corrupting the nations. 3 God has 
placed men in such relations to one another, that the 
tendencies of virtue and vice are displayed in their 
effects on society. As he who converts a sinner from 
the error of his ways saves a soul from death, so he who 
seduces a fellow-creature from virtue, entangles him in 
the snare of the devil, and delivers him over to destruc- 
tion ; and as the former has the approbation of God 
and all good beings, the latter deserves universal exe- 
cration, and will receive the curse of the Almighty. 

The thief who steals at midnight, is rewarded for his 
nocturnal vigilance and cautious intrusion by the gain 
which he acquires ; and the robber who stops the tra- 
veller on the highway, is rewarded for his adventurous 
boldness by the purse of gold which he bears off; but 
he who robs*another of innocence, has, in general, no 
such reward. The love of doing mischief prompted 
Satan to enter the garden of Paradise ; and tempters 
in human form are often instigated by the same love of 
destroying. Fiends in human form, they find a hellish 
joy in the ruin of virtue and happiness. Other se- 
ducers of innocence plunge their victims into crime 

1 1 Kings xvi. 26. 2 Matt, xxiii. 15. 3 Rev. xix. 2, 3. 



190 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

and misery for the sake of some momentary gratifica- 
tion, or of some trifling gain. They cannot, like the 
thief and robber, transfer to themselves the wealth of 
■which they deprive those whom they reduce to poverty 
and wretchedness. They cannot become innocent, by 
robbing others of their innocence. But they bring 
accumulated guilt and damnation on themselves ; while, 
for some trifling enjoyment at most, they bring guilt 
and damnation on others. What curse of omnipotent 
wrath can be too dreadful for crime so atrocious ? Yet 
such crime stalks abroad in human society, and meets 
us with bold front at the corner of every street. 

The art of the destroyer no one should desire either 
to teach or to learn, except to detect and counteract 
his mischievous designs. In pure virtue, conscience, 
governed itself by the will of God, governs all the im- 
pulses of the mind. 

The methods of seducing from virtue, consist in — 1. 
Weakening the restraints of conscience ; 2. Increasing 
the strength of unlawful desire ; and 3. Facilitating 
actual transgression. 

1. Weakening the Restraints of Conscience. 

Men are found in human society, and even women 
also, who teach that the distinction between virtue and 
vice is arbitrary, and opposed to the enjoyments of life. 
The highest good, in their ethics, consists in the grati- 
fication of every desire. The Bible is discarded ; the 
apprehensions of retribution in a future world are 
derided ; and the truths and motives of religion are 
treated with sneer and contempt. Books are published, 
and public lectures delivered, which oppose the claims 
of virtue and religion ; and many who do not aspire to 
be authors, or public lecturers, exert their influence in 
a more private way, to loosen the restraints of moral 



INJURY TO CHARACTER. 191 

obligation. Against all such influence, whether pub- 
licly or privately exerted, all who love the peace and 
order of society, and who desire their own happiness, 
or the happiness of those whom they love, should guard 
with watchful care. Especially does it become the 
young, and those on whom the guardianship of the 
young devolves, to exercise this caution. When the 
restraints of moral obligation begin to be loosened, and 
when the youthful mind begins to feel itself free from 
the bonds which have confined and checked it, the 
beginning of destruction has arrived, and the brink of 
the precipice has been reached. Young man, young 
woman, retreat in time, or a fall into irretrievable ruin 
awaits you. 

The power of conscience may be weakened indirectly, 
by inducing persons to act from motives which ought 
not to govern their conduct. Conscience ought to rule 
supreme over all other impulses to action. We act 
viciously, if we are moved by some other impulse to the 
neglect of conscience ; and when we induce others to 
act in this manner, our influence over them is of inju- 
rious effect. It tends to impair the power of con- 
science, and injure the moral character. Some men, 
who pride themselves on their knowledge of mankind, 
use their knowledge to manage others, by approaching 
them on the weak side, and appealing to some passion 
or prejudice, which will move to such action as suits 
the purpose of the designing master mind. Thus 
demagogues and party-leaders govern the multitude ; 
and, while they obtain their ends, do moral injury to 
the willing victims of their cunning. Even in religion, 
such demagogues are found ; and, like Satan trans- 
formed into an angel of Hght, they excite unholy zeal 
for external forms, or barren orthodoxy, and deceive 
their followers with the persuasion that it is super- 



192 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

eminent zeal for God. Another case in which religious 
leaders exert an injurious influence, occurs in the 
appeals which agents of benevolent societies sometimes 
address to men's vanity, to draw forth their contribu- 
tions. What they give may be to a good object ; and 
the gift would be an offering acceptable to God, if it pro- 
ceeded from pure benevolence. But God searches the 
heart, understands the motive, and abhors the polluted 
sacrifice ; so that, while the agent is pleased, and the 
deluded contributor is pleased, God is offended. Such 
agents may increase the funds of the societies that send 
them, but they pollute the fountains of Christian 
benevolence, from which they seek to draw their 
supplies. 

2. Exciting unlawful desires. 

Some desires are lawful, when duly subordinated to 
conscience, and others are in their very nature unlaw- 
ful. We are forbidden to covet our neighbor's house, 
wife, man-servant, maid-servant, ox, or ass, or anything 
that is his. The prohibited desire is unlawful in its 
very lowest degree ; and he who indulges it in himself, 
or excites it in others, sins against God. 

The chief means of exciting unlawful desire consists 
in operating on the imagination. The object of deTsire 
must be conceived in the mind ; and a skilful hand may 
so picture it to the imagination as to kindle desire, 
when it ought to excite loathing. It is thus that 
painting, fiction, and poetry, adorn pollution with 
splendid attire, and fascinate the young to their de- 
struction. Through the enchantment produced, they 
convey moral poison into the unsuspecting heart of 
innocence, and the very elements of character are cor- 
rupted before danger is apprehended. If the man who 
kindles a fire in a city, to the destruction of its dwell- 



1NJUKY TO CHARACTER. 193 

ings, deserves punishment, much more does he deserve 
it who publishes, and sends forth through the commu- 
nity, corrupting books and prints, that kindle the fires 
of unholy passion in thousands of minds, and make con- 
flagration of virtue and innocence. 

3. Facilitating actual Transgression. 

When the restraints of conscience have been thrown 
off, and unlawful desires excited in the breast, nothing 
is needed to produce actual transgression, but the pre- 
senting of opportunity. This the seducers of innocence 
effect in various methods. 

The young man who has learned to scorn the counsels 
of pious parents, finds himself in the society of those 
who promise to show him the world. He commits him- 
self to their guidance, full of curiosity, and panting for 
enjoyments beyond the narrow limits within which 
parental care has hitherto confined him. He is taught 
that it is manly to take a social glass, and the sparkling 
wine is presented to his lips, till he acquires a fondness 
for the intoxicating draught, and perhaps becomes ulti- 
mately a hopeless victim of drunkenness. Other sensual 
gratifications he learns to be w T ithin his reach, and, led 
on by his new companions, he visits the house which 
" is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of 
death." 1 Perhaps at some watering-place, where he 
has recently arrived, the inexperienced youth meets 
with one of nearly his own age, who seems by accident 
to fall in his way, and, with insinuating politeness, offers 
to conduct him through the curiosities of the place. 
He is at length brought into the gambling saloon ; and, 
not suspecting that his polite companion is an appointed 
agent to decoy into this den of robbers, he accepts his 

1 Prov. vii. 27. 
17 



194 DUTIES OE RECIPROCITY. 

invitation to become a partner with him in an adven- 
ture. He begins the game, and is at first permitted to 
win, until his consent to proceed has been fully gained, 
and the game is at last concluded, with the loss of his 
money, and an entrance into a life of profligacy. 

Happily, the young of the female sex are exposed to 
fewer temptations : but the serpent lies in their path 
also. What methods are employed to entice them from 
virtue, it would be unavailing to unfold. Their only 
safety is found in avoiding the very beginnings of evil. 
If young females trifle with conscience, and permit their 
imaginations to become familiar with scenes of forbidden 
pleasure, they owe it to the general respect for female 
virtue, rather than to their own purity, and to the good 
providence of God, rather than to their own prudence, 
that they are not ensnared in the coils of the destroyer. 

SECTION VIII. INJURY TO REPUTATION. 

A man's reputation is the opinion of others concern- 
ing him. The terms character and reputation are often 
used as if synonymous : but character signifies what a 
man is ; and reputation, what he is thought to be. A 
man of bad character may, by a mistake of society, 
possess a good reputation ; and a man of good character 
may, by the suspicions of the evil-minded, and the mis- 
representations of the calumnious, be without reputation. 
The Son of God consented to dwell amidst a people of 
unclean lips ; and, by exposing himself to their calumny, 
" made himself of no reputation r" 1 yet it cannot be 
said that he was without character. 

Reputation is ordinarily the natural and necessary 
result of a man's actions ; and, like the proceeds of 
labor in other cases, belongs to him by a right which is 

1 Phil. ii. 7. 



INJURY TO REPUTATION. 195 

as sacred as any other right, and ought to be free from 
violation. He who, by industry and good management, 
has acquired property, has, at the same time, gained a 
reputation for industry and good management, which 
may be to him the means of procuring future employ- 
ment, and may thus be far more valuable than the 
property acquired. The robber who steals his property 
commits a flagrant wrong ; but the slanderer who de- 
stroys his reputation, does far greater mischief, and 
deserves far greater punishment : and the criminality is 
the more atrocious, because the deed is perpetrated 
without the temptation of gain. The slanderer may 
gratify his hatred, or envy, or love of talking, by de- 
stroying his neighbor's reputation, but he impoverishes 
his neighbor without enriching himself. 

Evil Surmising, 

Reputation is the opinion of the community ; and 
since I am one of the community, my opinion concern- 
ing my neighbor, is a part of his reputation. If I think 
less of him than I ought, I so far do wrong to his repu- 
tation. Hence we do wrong to others, when we judge 
them too unfavorably; and the wrong is not confined 
to them, but rebounds on ourselves. The habit of judg- 
ing unfavorably, hardens the heart against the social 
affections and sympathies, on which our happy inter- 
course with others greatly depends. It is directly 
opposed to the charity which "thinketh no evil;" 1 and 
tends inevitably to cut us off from the sympathies and 
affections of others, and the approbation of heaven. 
" Judge not, that ye be not judged ; for with what judg- 
ment ye judge, ye shall be judged ; and with what 
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." 2 

1 1 Cor. xiii. 5. 2 Matt. vii. 1, 2. 



196 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

Love to our neighbor will incline us to admit his 
sincerity, and attribute to him no other motives than 
those from which he professes to act. We resent the 
wrong, if others ascribe to us motives which we disclaim ; 
and we ought, therefore, to avoid such judgment of 
others. Some men earn a reputation for insincerity, to 
which they are justly entitled, and there is no neces- 
sity that we should be blind to their true character ; 
but there is no merit in being the first to suspect the 
evil designs of others. Some persons pride themselves 
on their deep insight into human character ; and when 
some unlovely feature, before unsuspected, has been 
disclosed, they are ready to exclaim, I told you so ; but 
they do not inform us how many times they have sus- 
pected evil which never existed. They are perhaps 
deceived as often as the less suspicious ; but if they are 
not, it is better to be deceived sometimes, than to cul- 
tivate in ourselves the habit of thinking evil ; to keep 
the mind in perpetual disquiet, with the apprehension 
of suffering wrong from all who approach us ; and to 
banish all confidence from the intercourse of human 
society. To deal with honest men as if they were rogues, 
is a maxim which savors of the wisdom from beneath, 
rather than of that which cometh from above. The 
peace and happiness of human society depend much on 
the cultivation of love and mutual confidence ; and it is 
better that men should be surprised and shocked by 
occasional abuse of confidence, than that they should be 
perpetually prepared for it by sleepless suspicion. 

Much of the strife which disturbs society, originates 
in evil surmising. An injurious suspicion once enter- 
tained, cannot be concealed without great difficulty. If 
not expressed in words, it produces a cautiousness in 
action, by which the other party is led to suspect and 
resent its existence. Mutual suspicion being engen- 



INJURY TO REPUTATION. 197 

dered, a fire is kindled within, which refuses to be 
smothered. If you would avoid strife and rage, check 
the very beginnings of evil surmising. 

Since the most virtuous have imperfections, it is un- 
just, because of one failure, to judge the whole char- 
acter corrupt. Peter denied his Master ; but he not- 
withstanding loved and honored him, and suffered 
martyrdom in his cause. We ought not to judge a man 
destitute of any particular virtue, because he fails to 
exercise it in some one instance ; and if it should be 
proved that he is totally destitute of a particular vir- 
tue, we ought not thence to conclude, that he is destitute 
of all virtue. Even the truly pious may have a sin that 
does easily beset them ; l and those who have not 
renounced all for Christ, may, like the young ruler 
whom Jesus loved, 2 possess traits of character worthy to 
be loved and admired. 

We should be careful not to suffer our estimate of 
others to be determined by their regard for us. " Sin- 
ners love those that love them ;" 3 but righteous judgment 
is not founded on considerations so selfish. If a man 
has treated me unkindly, it does not follow that he is a 
bad man. Unkindness to me is not worse than unkind- 
ness to any other person ; and if we strike from our 
list of friends all who have ever treated any one amiss, 
we shall have few names remaining. If we detect with 
keen perception, and decry with bold vociferation, the 
faults of our enemies or opponents, while we are blind 
to the faults of our friends, and those of our party ; we 
do not judge according to righteousness. We should 
school ourselves to estimate every man, not by his bear- 
ing toward us, but by his true character. 

1 Heb. xii. 1. 2 Mark x. 21. 3 Luke vi. 32. 

17* 



198 DUTIES OP RECIPROCITY. 

Evil Speaking. 

Few persons have their reputation so fully established 
as to be wholly beyond the reach of detraction ; and 
few persons are so contemptible as to be wholly unable 
to injure the reputation of a neighbor. The tongue, 
therefore, needs to be restrained. An inspired writer 
has taught the necessity of this in the following im- 
pressive language : " Even so, the tongue is a little 
member, and boasteth great things. Behold how great 
a matter a little fire kindleth ! And the tongue is a 
fire, a world of iniquity : so is the tongue among our 
members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth 
on fire the course of nature ; and it is set on fire of 
hell. For every kind of beasts and of birds, and of 
serpents, and of things in the sea is, tamed, and hath 
been tamed of mankind : but the tongue can no man 
tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison." 1 

We do wrong to the reputation of a neighbor if, in 
the hearing of any third party, we charge him with 
crime, either falsely or unnecessarily. Too many think 
themselves justifiable in speaking what they please 
against others, so long as they say nothing but what 
they believe to be true. They surmise evil, and their 
superior sagacity discerns so many confirmations of 
their suspicion, that they take it at length for indubita- 
ble truth : or they may have heard the thing reported 
by some one, whose authority, though it might be ques- 
tioned in other cases, they readily admit in this. They 
believe, because they are willing to believe, and what 
they believe they affirm. Now, if the thing reported, 
though believed, be not known to be true, he who 
reports it is guilty of lying : but, if it be known to be 
true, yet, if he reports it unnecessarily, he is guilty of 
slander. 

1 James iii. 5, 6, 7. 



INJURY TO REPUTATION. 199 

Objection. — The truth can wrong no one. He may 
have greater reputation than he deserves, and the truth 
may lessen it, but it cannot make it less than it ought 
to be, and therefore it cannot inflict wrong. 

This objection assumes that every one who reports 
his neighbor's faults, has a right to sit in judgment on 
his reputation, and contract it whenever it extends too 
far. But why have I more right to diminish my neigh- 
bor's reputation, than to diminish his field, if he has 
placed his fence outside of the true boundary ? If he 
has enclosed my grounds, I have a right to claim that 
his field shall be so far diminished as to leave me in the 
uninterrupted enjoyment of what rightfully belongs to 
me. So if my rights are affected by the extent of his 
reputation, I may claim what is my own, though his 
reputation should suffer loss. The possession of pro- 
perty, even when unjustly acquired, gives a right to 
exclude any one who has no better right. On the same 
principle the possession of reputation should exclude all 
encroachment, when not required by the rights of 
others. Hence we have no right to lessen the reputa- 
tion of our neighbor, unless it becomes necessary in the 
fulfilment of our own duty. If we do it to gratify our 
hatred, or pride of superiority, or love of talking, we 
are guilty of slander. 

Duty to a third party may require the giving of 
information against a neighbor. If I know that he is 
plotting to burn the house, or seduce the daughter of 
another, my duty requires that I should give so much 
information, as may be necessary to secure protection 
against the meditated injury; but it does not require 
that I should tell all I know, or all I suspect, concern- 
ing the author of the criminal design. Duty to society 
may require us to inform when the laws have been 
violated. He, who, in neglect of duty, conceals the 



200 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 

crimes or criminal designs of others, makes himself an 
accomplice in their guilt. 

Confidential Communication. 

Much slander is covered under the injunction of 
secrecy. Communications are seldom confidential unless 
they contain some statement which, if divulged, might 
bring the author into trouble; and, therefore, the in- 
junction of secrecy often proceeds from cowardice, 
rather than conscientiousness. If I, from a sense of 
duty, communicate information to an individual, which 
he needs, but which it would be wrong to spread before 
the public, it is then my duty to require secrecy. But 
in too many cases, confidential communications do not 
proceed from a sense of duty, and are as useless to 
him who receives, as to him who makes them. The 
receiver has but little reason to feel flattered by the 
confidence which burdens him with an unprofitable and 
troublesome secret, criminally committed to his keeping. 

Convivial Defamation. 

Tea-table gossip is proverbially an entertainment of 
slander ; and it is to be lamented, that this species of 
entertainment is not confined to parties of the idle and 
light-minded. Men of gravity too frequently lay aside 
their seriousness, and provoke merriment by dissecting 
the character of an absent individual. Some wit of 
the company holds up his foibles to ridicule, and all 
enjoy a rich repast, which would be sadly interrupted, 
if the subject of their merriment should unexpectedly 
appear among them. But if all that was said in his 
absence proceeded from pure brotherly love, why is not 
his arrival welcomed, that he may share in the feast of 
love and flow of soul? The merriment ceases, because 
all understand that no one desires to be the subject of 



INJURY TO REPUTATION. 201 

such convivial defamation ; and, therefore, all who do 
to others as they would have others do to them, will 
hold the reputation of the absent too sacred to make 
it a subject of sport. 

If the utterances of the tongue in the ordinary- 
intercourse of society be carefully examined, any one 
who has not considered the subject, will be surprised 
to discover how much is said that may be justly styled 
slander. Why cannot topics of conversation be found, 
worthy of rational and immortal minds ? Let the 
young acquire useful knowledge, and cultivate a deli- 
cate respect for the reputation of the absent ; and they 
will then feel it a degradation, to associate with those 
who are incapable of higher enjoyment than the feast 
of scandal. 

Libel. 

Written or printed slander is styled libel. In this 
form, it has greater permanence ; and, if sent forth 
with the multiplying power of the press, may fly with 
increased velocity, and operate with more extended 
injury. The strife of political parties gives frequent 
occasion for this species of crime, against which all 
have great need to guard, who edit political newspapers, 
or write for them in times of party excitement. But 
the most unsuitable place for libel, is the column of a 
religious newspaper. The cause of him who, when he 
was reviled, reviled not again, is grossly dishonored, 
when newspapers, professedly devoted to the dissemi- 
nation of pure and undefined religion, are polluted with 
slanderous publications, in which religious partisans 
assail the reputation of each other. On this abuse of 
the press, the God of truth and holiness frowns ; and 
the effects of it on vital godliness, are blasting and 
destruction. 



202 DUTIES OF RECIPROCITY. 



SECTION IX. INJUSTICE TO BRUTES. 

Though brutes are not moral beings, God has pro- 
vided enjoyments for them ; and men are under moral 
obligation not to intercept his bounty. Hence, brutes 
have rights, and may be treated with injustice. 

God has given man dominion over brutes, and 
authority to use them for food. He may command 
their services, when he can make them labor for him ; 
and he may put them to death, when he needs their 
bodies for meat, or when they dispute with him the pos- 
session of the earth, or disturb his peaceful occupancy 
of it. But God has given him no right to treat brutes 
with cruelty. Beasts used for labor, ought to be fed, 
and otherwise provided for ; and those which are killed 
for food, ought to be put to death with as little pain as 
possible. We have no right to harm wild animals which 
we do not need for food, and which do not incommode 
us ; or to put any animal to pain, whether wild or tame, 
for the mere purpose of sport. 

The obligation to treat brutes with kindness, is taught 
in the Holy Scriptures, which declare that "a righteous 
man regardeth the life of his beast." 1 Brutes are 
sentient, as well as men; and no one whose heart is not 
cruel, can take pleasure in putting them to torture. 
He who tortures flies for amusement, is preparing him- 
self, if he should obtain power over human lives, to 
sacrifice them to his fiendish pleasure, and to derive 
higher enjoyment from the sport, according to the 
higher nature of his victims. 

1 Prov. xii. 10. 



CHAPTER IX. 
DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 



SECTION I. OBLIGATION. 

The means of enjoyment which the bountiful Creator 
has provided for mankind, he has chosen to distribute 
unequally ; and this inequality furnishes occasion for 
the exercise of benevolence. The duties of reciprocity, 
considered in the last chapter, make no change in the 
inequality of distribution. If a rich man buys a horse 
Trom his poor neighbor, and pays the exact value in 
;orn or money, the inequality of their wealth is not 
affected by the exchange ; but if he gives the corn or 
money without receiving an equivalent, he performs 
an act of benevolence, which brings the amount of 
their possessions nearer to equality by lessening the 
abundance of his wealth, and increasing the scanty 
supplies of the other. Such acts of benevolence it is 
the will of God that all men should perform, according 
to the means which he has granted them, and the wants 
which he gives them opportunity to relieve. 

1. The obligation of benevolence is enforced by con- 
science. Selfish as the human heart is, it is not wholly 
devoid of sympathy and benevolent affections. Con- 
science restrains our selfishness, and reproves if we 
withhold what is due to others ; but conscience never 
opposes benevolent affections, or upbraids us for their 
exercise. On the contrary, some of our highest moral 

• (203) 



204 DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

pleasures result from acts of kindness to others ; and 
men who practise benevolence, have always found the 
words of Christ verified in their experience — " It is 
more blessed to give than to receive." 1 Nor is the con- 
science of the benevolent man the only witness that 
testifies to the excellence of the virtue. Even selfish 
men admire and approve the conduct which they are 
unable to imitate ; and though such men as the philan- 
thropic Howard are exceedingly rare, the men who can 
fail to admire their virtues, are equally rare. However 
diverse the moral sentiments of mankind may be on 
other points, all men approve benevolence. 

2. The state of human society calls for the exercise 
of benevolence. Everywhere we see widows and orphans 
to be relieved, sick to be visited, hungry to be fed, and 
naked to be clothed; or, if cases of extreme want and 
suffering do not obtrude themselves on our notice, we 
need not search far or long to find those whose hearts 
may be gladdened by our kindness. This constitution 
of human society calls for benevolence, and gives oppor- 
tunity for its exercise. Were all so happy that no drop 
could be added to their cup of enjoyment, the call for 
benevolence would not, as now, assail us from every 
quarter. God could have distributed the means of 
enjoyment equally, and have filled every cup to the 
brim ; but, though he delights in the happiness of his 
creatures, he delights in virtue more, and chooses to 
give opportunity for its exercise. The Book of his 
providence teaches the lesson on every page, that he 
requires us to be benevolent. 

Lest we should be slow to learn our duty from the 
wants of others, our Creator has made us liable to 
wants ourselves. Every one knows that his lot is not 

1 Acts xx. 35. 



RULE. 205 

beyond the reach of suffering, and that an occasion may 
possibly arise in which he may need the sympathy and 
aid of others. Even self-love presses on us the obliga- 
tion to relieve the sufferings of others ; and, though it 
cannot supply the proper motives for the performance 
of the duty, it can teach us the folly of neglecting it. 

3. The Holy Scriptures clearly teach the duty of 
benevolence. Everywhere throughout the sacred volume, 
the duty of giving to the poor, and relieving the suf- 
fering, is enforced by the authority of God ; and his 
approbation of benevolence is declared with promises 
of blessing, and his wrath is denounced against the cruel 
and oppressive. 

4. The duty of benevolence is taught by divine ex- 
ample. God is good to all ; and, without benevolence, 
we cannot be the children of our Father in heaven. 
The experience of every moment furnishes proof of 
God's incessant kindness to us ; and, if we admire and 
love the Author of our mercies, we shall take pleasure 
in imitating his benevolence. Grateful for his bless- 
ings received, we shall rejoice to dispense blessings to 
others. 

The goodness of God in creation and providence, is 
an example which nature presents for our imitation ; 
but the Holy Scriptures direct our minds to the higher 
example of his goodness, in the redemption of sinners 
by Jesus Christ. From the love of God in the gift of 
his Son, and from the love of Christ in dying for our 
salvation, the Scriptures infer our obligation to love 
our fellow-men, and to be willing even to lay down our 
lives for our brethren. 

SECTION II. RULE. 

The duties of reciprocity may be defined with preci- 
sion. For everything received, they require an equiv- 

18 



206 DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

alent to be given ; and the value of the commodities 
exchanged, may be determined by the current estimates 
of buyers and sellers. But a rule equally determinate 
cannot be prescribed for acts of benevolence. Much is 
left to individual choice, according to the words of 
Christ : " Ye have the poor with you always, and when- 
soever ye will, ye may do them good." 1 The precise 
time and the precise amount of our benevolence, are 
not definitely commanded ; but there are considerations 
which may assist us in determining our duty. 

1. The exercise of benevolent desire ought to be un- 
circumscribed and unintermitted. Its first proper ob- 
jects are those nearest to us, members of the same 
family. Beyond this circle, it extends to the neighbor- 
hood, and to the whole country, and to all mankind. 
Though it may embrace kindred and friends first, it 
must not be confined to these, but must extend to 
strangers, and even to enemies. Christ said, " Love 
your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to 
them that hate you, and pray for them which despite- 
fully use you, and persecute you." 2 Our acts of bene- 
volence are necessarily limited according to our ability; 
but our benevolent desires may flow wide as the world. 
Acts of benevolence cannot be without intermission ; 
but the flow of benevolent desire ought to be as water 
from a perennial fountain. Like a pent-up stream 
seeking vent, it should be ready to burst forth into 
action, whenever opportunity occurs. 

2. Our obligation to perform acts of benevolence, 
must be determined according to our means. The 
father of a family is not bound to give to the children 
of his neighbor, the food which his own children need 
for their sustenance. Benevolence does not require 

1 Mark xiv. 7. 2 Matt. v. 44. 



RULE. 207 

me to give to a beggar the bread, without which I shall 
myself die of hunger. But such extreme cases seldom 
occur ; and men are seldom in danger of exhausting 
their means by doing good to others. But they too 
commonly confine their benevolence within limits which 
leave to themselves the undisturbed enjoyment, not 
only of the necessaries and comforts, but also of the 
luxuries to which they may have been accustomed. 
Such benevolence does not deserve the name. We 
have not approached the limit of our obligation, if we 
have not found some self-denial necessary. We have 
the example of Christ proposed for our imitation, who, 
though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that 
we through his poverty might be rich, 1 and the Re- 
deemer commended the liberality of the poor widow, 
who gave "all that she had, even all her living-" 2 If 
these divine instructions do not bind us to give away 
our wealth till it is literally exhausted, they certainly 
bind us to consider it the Lord's, and ourselves his 
stewards, appointed to use at his will, what he has in- 
trusted to our hands. With this sense of responsibility 
to God, as proprietor of all things, deeply fixed in our 
hearts, and with the knowledge that he loveth a cheer- 
ful giver, 3 we can scarcely err in the disposal of what 
he has committed to our stewardship. 

3. Our obligation to perform acts of benevolence 
must be determined according to the wants which 
Providence gives us opportunity to supply. There are 
years of plenty, as well as of famine ; and in seasons 
of abundance, the benevolent man is justified in laying 
by in store for the time to come. When but few wants 
call for relief, he may give but little ; but as his store 
accumulates, he should remember that the Lord per- 

1 2 Cor. viii. 9. 2 Mark xii. 44. 3 2 Cor. ix. 7. 



208 DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

mits its increase, for some approaching time of need ; 
and he should hold it in readiness for the future 
demand. But that benevolence is spurious, which 
neglects a present opportunity of doing good, under the 
plea of providing for future necessity. It distrusts 
God's providence, and violates his command. 

4. Our acts of benevolence should vary in kind, 
according to the nature of the wants which call for 
relief. Wants may be physical, intellectual, or moral; 
and, in every case, the relief to be afforded must cor- 
respond to the nature of the want. If a man is 
hungry, give him food ; if he is naked, give him cloth- 
ing. But supplies of food and clothing for the mortal 
body, cannot enrich the immortal mind. If a man is 
sick, we may perform towards his suffering body, acts 
of kindness like those of the compassionate Samaritan; 1 
but such kindness is ineffectual to reach the malady of 
sin that preys on the soul. True benevolence will 
seek, by all appropriate means, to instruct the igno- 
rant, and reform the vicious. Here it finds its highest 
and noblest sphere of action. The establishment of 
schools to teach the young, who would otherwise grow 
up without the means of instruction; and the sending 
forth of missionaries to preach the gospel to the 
heathen, who would otherwise perish for lack of know- 
ledge ; are acts of benevolence pleasing to God, and 
full of blessing to mankind. 

SECTION III. PHYSICAL BENEFACTION. 

When men suffer hunger because they will not earn 
bread, and cold because they are too indolent to provide 
clothing and habitation for themselves ; benevolence 
does not require that we should give them permanent 

1 Luke x. 33-36. 



PHYSICAL BENEFACTION. 209 

relief. It is better that they should be left to suffer. 
God has ordained that he who will not work shall not 
eat ; 1 and we do wrong to oppose this wise arrange- 
ment of his providence. Physical want is a less evil 
than indolent or vicious habits; and if God designs it 
to be a cure for these, we ought not to contravene his 
discipline. True benevolence requires that we permit 
the remedy which he applies to take effect. Temporary 
and partial relief ought to be given, even to the indo- 
lent, in cases of extreme want and suffering ; but care 
should be taken not to encourage their idleness. 

Frequently the poor suffer, not because they are un- 
willing to labor, but because they cannot find employ- 
ment. In this case we ought to give present relief by 
supplying the wants which now oppress them ; and, if 
possible, place them in circumstances in which they can 
provide for themselves. This is far more benevolent 
than to support them in idleness. Though labor has 
been inflicted on man as a curse for disobedience, God's 
goodness has converted it into a blessing ; and all, if 
possible, ought to enjoy the benefit. 

Public charity is unwisely directed, when it supports 
paupers in idleness, who are able to labor. Besides the 
evil of being without employment, they acquire a habit 
of dependence, inconsistent with self-respect, and in its 
tendency degrading and demoralizing. Another evil 
of the plan is, that the supply excites no gratitude in 
the heart of the recipient. He learns to claim it as a 
right; perhaps murmurs at its scantiness, or complains 
of some injustice in the manner of its distribution. All 
benefactions to the poor, ought, if possible, to be so dis- 
pensed, as to cultivate in them the ennobling virtue of 
gratitude, and a spirit of manly self-reliance. 

1 2 Thess. iii. 10. 
18* 



210 DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

When paupers are maintained in idleness, they have 
no opportunity to enjoy the pleasure of doing good. 
They receive what barely supplies their wants ; and in 
appropriating it habitually to themselves, the spirit of 
selfishness is cherished. The pauper is greatly elevated, 
when he is placed in circumstances in which he can 
sustain himself, and feel his independence ; but he is 
exalted to a blissful eminence, if he can become the 
benefactor of others, and enjoy the luxury of giving. 

Charity should be rendered to the sick and the aged, 
without exacting service from them in return ; and it 
ought to be rendered cheerfully, and without upbraid- 
ing. It may be, that they would not now be dependent, 
if, in better days, they had been as industrious and fru- 
gal as they ought to have been ; but it is now too late 
to remedy the indolence and improvidence which may 
have caused their present poverty. If, on the plea that 
they deserve to suffer, we decline to relieve the wants 
that oppress them, we fail in benevolence, and do injury 
to our own moral character. We may allude to their past 
conduct, if we can, by judicious comments on it, promote 
their moral good ; but we may not substitute upbraidings 
for alms, and wound the spirit instead of relieving the 
body. 

The bestowing of charity blesses him who gives, as 
well as him who receives. It is, in general, better that 
it be dispensed in person, than by proxy; because 
better opportunity is given for the cultivation of benevo- 
lent feeling in the giver. The sight of the misery to 
be relieved, and the personal converse with the suffer- 
ing, deepen the sense of our obligation ; and it enhances 
the pleasure of the benevolence, to see with our own 
eyes the relief which it yields. He who contents him- 
self to relieve the poor and suffering, not by visiting 
them in their affliction, but by contributing to some 



INTELLECTUAL BENEFACTION. 211 

public fund for charity, loses much of the benefit which 
he might derive from his beneficence. In the last day 
the Judge will say, "I was sick, and ye visited me." 1 
We are not informed that he will say, I was sick, and 
ye sent unto me. To send relief to the suffering is well ; 
but to visit and relieve is better, and will be specially 
honored by the approving notice of the Great Judge. 

The benevolent man derives greater benefit from his 
charity, when it is dispensed in secret. Christ's rule 
for alms-giving is, " Let not thy left hand know what 
thy right hand doeth." 2 Alms given to be seen of man, 
may gratify the love of applause, but cannot have the 
approbation of an enlightened conscience, and will not 
receive reward from our Father in heaven. He who 
desires to free his heart from the influence of unworthy 
motives, will prefer, when it is practicable, to bestow 
his alms when there is no witness but God. He may 
have much pleasure in relieving the sufferer ; but his 
highest pleasure flows from a sense of the divine appro- 
bation ; and he enjoys this the more, because it is undis- 
turbed by the desire or hope of human applause. 

SECTION IV. INTELLECTUAL BENEFACTION. 

The improvement of the intellect is an important 
benefit, which it is often in our power to confer on 
others. Knowledge is the food of the mind ; without 
which it remains dwarfish and imbecile. To give know- 
ledge is a more noble benefaction than to give bread ; 
as the mind is more noble than the body. It has the 
further advantage, that it is enduring. The bread 
which is consumed to-day, cannot be eaten again to- 
morrow ; but knowledge acquired, is a continual feast. 
The stores laid up in childhood and youth, supply our 

1 Matt. xxv. 36. 2 Matt. vi. 3. 



212 DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

mature years, and continue, without diminution, through 
old age, furnishing a perpetual banquet, and imparting 
vigor and activity to the mind. This intellectual im- 
provement fits men to occupy a higher station in society; 
and is, in general, far more valuable than mere physical 
strength towards the earning of bread. It is, moreover, 
capable of indefinite propagation. The bread that we 
eat perishes ; and we are compelled to lay aside from 
our bread-corn, however much we - may desire it for pre- 
sent enjoyment, a sufficient quantity to sow for a future 
crop. But the knowledge on which one mind feeds, 
instead of being consumed and lost, may be scattered 
into a thousand other minds ; and in each one may be 
seed producing a future crop, capable of supplying 
intellectual nourishment, and means for further propa- 
gation. These considerations invite the benefactors of 
mankind to direct their efforts to a higher end than the 
mere supply of physical wants. 

In conferring intellectual benefit, there is not the 
same danger of encouraging idleness, that attends the 
giving of alms to the poor. This danger might exist in 
its full force, if we could pour knowledge into the mind, 
as the sun pours its light into the eye : but knowledge 
cannot be acquired by a merely passive recipient. It 
must, in the most favorable circumstances, be obtained by 
labor. To give a favorable opportunity of laboring for 
it, is a wise benevolence — similar to that which gives 
employment to the poor, by which they may earn bread. 
Moreover, the aid afforded for the acquisition of know- 
ledge, is usually limited from necessity to a short period 
of early life ; and the beneficiary knows that the time 
of receiving the benefit cannot last. He is, therefore, 
in little danger of relying on it for future subsistence ; 
but, if worthy of the favor conferred, he will feel the 
obligation to improve, with all possible diligence, the 



INTELLECTUAL BENEFACTION. 213 

short opportunity which it affords to fit himself for those 
efforts on which the usefulness and happiness of his 
whole life depend. 

Some cases occur, in which genius presses through 
every obstacle, and, by its own unaided strength, comes 
forth into distinction. But every mind is not fitted for 
such efforts ; nor is it necessary that every mind should 
be subjected to such trial of its strength. Thousands 
live in ignorance, and die unknown, who would have 
been distinguished ornaments to society, if friendly aid 
had been afforded at the moment that their genius, 
having explored the little field of knowledge within its 
own observation, sighed and labored to extend its 
research, but at length yielded to invincible necessity. 
Let those whose benevolence inclines them to give bread 
to the famishing, search also for such despairing genius, 
and impart to it the intellectual aliment which it craves, 
and which is needed to sustain and develop the powers 
that may glorify God, and bless mankind. 

In bestowing intellectual benefits, it is often best to 
act by proxy. Many are able to give the means for 
obtaining instruction, who are not qualified to give the 
instruction itself. Hence the establishment of schools, 
the furnishing of them with libraries and scientific appa- 
ratus, and the contributing of funds for enabling the 
poor to avail themselves of these advantages, otherwise 
inaccessible and useless to them, are benefactions worthy 
of enlightened philanthropy. They may sometimes, 
like the blessings of Providence, be received by the 
ungrateful, or abused to vicious purposes ; but the 
charity in which they originate, resembles the divine 
benevolence from which the blessings of Providence 
flow. 

Funds for the support of public schools have some- 
times failed to produce their proper benefits, not be- 



214 DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

cause gratuitous education is injurious to the young, 
but because the funds have been badly managed, or the 
schools badly conducted, or because parents have not 
rightly appreciated the advantages brought within their 
reach. When schools are established by law, the 
wisdom of legislators should seek to guard, as much as 
possible, against these causes of failure. 

SECTION V. MORAL BENEFACTION. 

Sin is the greatest of all evils ; and to deliver from 
it is the greatest benefit that it is possible to confer. 
Though a man should enjoy all the blessings which 
wealth can procure, and though his mind be enriched 
with all the treasures of literature and science, yet he 
cannot be happy if his heart be under the dominion of 
vicious passions. The wicked man is the enemy of 
God, the enemy of mankind, and the enemy of himself. 
His life on earth, whatever may be its seeming plea- 
sures, is a vain pursuit of happiness, which always 
retires as he approaches, and, when it appears within 
his reach, always eludes his grasp. But the pleasures 
of the present life, though very vanity, are his only 
good ; for, in the world to come, his only portion is 
everlasting woe. Hence, to save a man from his sins, 
and their terrible consequences, is a benefaction far 
greater than to relieve all his physical wants, or to 
bestow the highest possible cultivation on his intellectual 
powers. 

Wicked men are a curse to human society. Every 
one of them is a centre of moral pestilence, infecting 
the community with plague and death. To reform a 
vicious man is to render a source of malignant influence 
healthful, and to confer a rich benefit on society. It 
is a work of benevolence, not to the wicked man only 



MORAL BENEFACTION. 215 

who is its immediate object, but to the world in which 
he dwells. 

A wicked man perverts the noble nature that God 
has given him, and dishonors the Author of his being. 
He is in rebellion against his Sovereign, and at war 
with the best interests of the universe. To reform such 
an one is a service to God, tending to establish his 
boundless and everlasting dominion. God requires this 
service, and promises to reward it with distinguished 
honor. " They that be wise shall shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament, and they that turn many to 
righteousness, as the stars forever and ever." 1 

The duty of laboring for the deliverance of men from 
sin, is recommended by the example of Christ. He 
came into the world to save his people from their sins. 2 
To this work his whole mediation was directed; and, 
in the accomplishment of it, he gave his life a sacrifice. 
His apostles labored and suffered in the same cause, 
and willingly exposed themselves to every danger, and 
suffered every privation, that they might save men from 
sin. They esteemed no other service which it was pos- 
sible for them to render, so acceptable to God, or so 
beneficial to mankind ; and we must agree with them in 
this estimate, if our judgments are enlightened by the 
wisdom from above. 

The means to be employed for the moral reformation 
of the wicked, are : 

1. Moral and religious instruction. — Men need to be 
taught their relation to God and his moral government, 
that they may fully comprehend the nature and extent 
of their moral obligations. It is important that they 
should understand the beneficial tendency and effects 
of virtue, and the destructive influence of vice for time 

1 Dan. xii. 3. 2 Matt. i. 21. 



216 DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

and eternity. Above all, they should be made ac- 
quainted with the gospel, which unfolds God's scheme 
of salvation by Jesus Christ, and which God has ap- 
pointed to be the means of moral reform to mankind ; 
for " it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching 
to save them that believe." 1 These means of religious 
instruction should be sent to the nations that are in the 
darkness of heathenism; and should be applied to men 
of every age, but especially to the young, whose minds 
are not yet under the full control of sinful habits. 

2. Affectionate Entreaty. — A cold inculcation of 
moral and religious truth, is not all that is needed for 
the moral benefit of men ; nor is it all that duty 
requires. The apostles of Christ besought men to be 
reconciled to God; 2 and Jesus Christ wept over im- 
penitent Jerusalem, and expressed his compassion for 
the wicked inhabitants in language of exquisite tender- 
ness. 3 The condition of the wicked ought to excite 
our pity ; and we cannot better exhibit our compassion- 
ate regard for them, than by affectionate exhortation to 
forsake sin, and flee from the wrath to come. 

3. Holy Example. — The wicked ought to be contem- 
plated with mingled emotions of benevolence and ab- 
horrence : benevolence for their persons ; abhorrence 
for their crimes. No proof that we abhor their crimes 
can be so effectual as a careful avoidance of them. 
Without this, our instructions and exhortations will be 
unavailing. If the truths and motives by which we 
seek to operate on them, fail to produce the proper 
effect on our own conduct, we shall be accounted insin- 
cere and hypocritical, when we urge them on others. 
Our bad example will more than nullify all the good 
words which our lips may utter. It will tend to make 

1 1 Cor. i. 21. i 2 Cor. v. 20. 3 Matt, xxiii. 37. 



FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. 217 

men believe that all our instructions and exhortations, 
addressed to them for their reformation, are unworthy 
of their regard. Our benevolence may induce us to 
follow the example of Christ, in seeking and saving the 
lost ; but, though he ate and drank with publicans and 
sinners, he was, in moral purity, separate from sinners. 
Let us, if we would go about doing good as he did, imi- 
tate his purity, as well as his benevolence. Then will 
our actions speak to the heads and hearts of men a 
language which they cannot fail to understand, and the 
influence of which they will not find it easy to resist. 

SECTION VI. FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. 

The noblest and loveliest form of benevolence appears 
in the forgiveness of injuries. The Jewish interpreters 
of the Mosaic law maintained that we ought to love our 
neighbors, and hate our enemies ; but Christ rejected 
their interpretation of the sacred code, and taught that 
it is our duty to love our enemies, to bless them that 
curse us, and to pray for them that despitefully use^us, 
and persecute us. 1 The New Testament very clearly 
teaches the obligation to forgive, and forbids us to in- 
dulge the hope of obtaining forgiveness from God, if we 
do not forgive those that trespass against us. 2 A for- 
giving spirit, therefore, is essential to the Christian 
character. 

The obligation to forgive is enforced by the divine 
example. We are exhorted to be kind and tender- 
hearted, and forgiving one another as God for Christ's 
sake hath forgiven us. 3 The divine forgiveness extends 
to enemies : " For scarcely for a righteous man will one 
die ; yet peradventure for a good man some would even 
dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, 
in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 



1 Matt. v. 43, 44. 2 Mark xi. 26. 3 Eph. iv. 32. 

19 



218 DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

* * * For if when we were enemies, we were recon- 
ciled," &C. 1 Hence, if we would be the children of our 
Father in heaven, we must forgive our enemies. And, 
if we possess the spirit of Christ, we shall exercise this 
forgiving spirit, at the very time that we are suffering 
most severely from the malignant hands of those who 
hate and persecute us. He died, praying for those who 
crucified him, " Father, forgive them, for they know 
not what they do." 2 

When we see injury inflicted on another, we feel that 
the perpetrator of it deserves punishment. When 
the injury is inflicted on ourselves, we not only 
judge the injurer to be worthy of punishment, but we 
feel strongly impelled to punish him. This propensity 
to take vengeance in our own hands, Christianity 
requires us to subdue ; and directs us to commit our 
case to the Lord, who says, " Vengeance is mine ; I 
will repay." 3 This forbearance to retaliate, is the first 
step in forgiveness. 

But true forgiveness is something more than the 
mere absence of retaliation. It renders good for evil. 
It seeks to relieve the wants of the injurer, physical, 
intellectual, or moral ; and, instead of attempting to 
punish him, or imprecating the divine vengeance on 
him, prays that he may be forgiven, and may receive 
every blessing from God which is needed to make him 
happy. In all this, it resembles the divine forgiveness, 
which makes the object of it blest for ever. 

Christian forgiveness is a most effectual means of 
conferring moral benefit on the injurer. If we return 
evil for evil, we excite his malignant passions to inflict 
further and greater injury ; but if we return love for 
hatred, kindness for wrong, we present a spectacle of 

1 Rom. v. 7-10. 2 Luke xxiii. 34. 3 Rom. xii. 19. 



FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES. 219 

virtue to which he is not accustomed ; and we bring it 
so near, that he is compelled to contemplate it. If not 
lost to all sense of virtue, he admires while he contem- 
plates ; and his malignant passions, instead of being 
excited to further aggression, are subdued. This is an 
end which Paul has proposed to be sought, by doing 
good to the injurious. " If thine enemy hunger, feed 
him ; if he thirst, give him drink ; for in so doing, thou 
shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome 
of evil, but overcome evil with good." 1 As a mass of 
metal may be melted by heaping coals of fire on it, so 
the hard heart of an injurious man may be softened by 
acts of kindness. 

We are under obligation to show benevolence to any 
wicked man, though sustaining no special relation to 
us ; but when he becomes our injurer, he voluntarily 
assumes a relation to us, which gives us the most favor- 
able opportunity of doing him good. A truly benevo- 
lent mind, delighting to confer moral benefit on the 
wicked, as the highest possible benefaction, will rejoice 
to embrace so favorable an opportunity, when offered. 
How sad is the mistake, when, yielding to the impulse 
of passion, we neglect such an opportunity of doing 
good, and by returning evil for evil, harden in crime 
one whom we might have gained over to virtue ! 

To forgive, is honorable. False honor teaches men 
to revenge injuries, and to account it mean-spirited to 
forgive, or even to forbear. Men who know not God, 
may think it honorable to punish a slight insult with 
death; but he who seeks the honor that cometh from 
God, cannot so judge. Forgiveness is a God-like 
virtue, and is therefore most honorable. 

A forgiving temper, though it may fail to produce 

1 Rom. xii. 20, 21. 



220 DUTIES OF BENEVOLENCE. 

its proper effect on the injurer, always blesses him who 
exercises it. The man who avenges a wrong, may- 
have the pleasure of gratified pride, but he who forgives 
it, has the more exalted pleasure of virtue. His con- 
science approves, and rewards him with inward peace, 
calm and serene, elevated far above the reach of pride 
and passion, and resembling the blessedness of God. 

The practice of forgiveness promotes the public 
good. Revenge tends to perpetuate wrong in a con- 
tinued series of retaliations ; forgiveness tends to 
annihilate wrong, by cutting short its progress at once. 
Revenge makes its ultimate appeal to cunning or phy- 
sical force, and tends to subject to their control the 
welfare of mankind ; forgiveness appeals to moral 
feeling, and tends to establish the universal dominion 
of virtue. 



CHAPTEE X. 
DUTIES OF VERACITY. 



SECTION I. OBLIGATION OF VERACITY. 

Such is the condition of mankind, that knowledge 
is indispensable to the preservation of life, the enjoy- 
ment of its pleasures, and the performance of its 
duties. A part of this knowledge is derived from our 
own experience and observation; but far the larger 
part is obtained from the information of others. Lan- 
guage is the medium which the Creator has designed 
for the conveyance of information from one mind to 
another ; and, that the design be not frustrated, it is 
necessary that the information conveyed be true. If 
all the utterances of language were falsehood, every 
man would be compelled to rely on his own experience 
and observation ; and, instead of deriving benefit from 
society, he would be in continual danger of being 
deceived and misled to his ruin. Since God has formed 
man for society, has made his well-being, to a great 
degree, dependent on society, has made language indis- 
pensable to secure the benefits of society, and truth 
indispensable to secure the benefits of language; we 
are sure that God wills men to speak the truth. The 
demonstration is perfect. We have not better proof, 
that God designed the human body to be sustained by 
food. 

Eurther proof of the obligation to speak the truth, 
19* (221) 



222 DUTIES OF VERACITY. 

may be drawn from the tendency which may be observed 
in men generally, to speak the truth, when not under 
the influence of some corrupting motive ; and from the 
tendency, equally observable, to believe what is said, 
until experience has taught suspicion ; and from the 
decisions of conscience, approving truth, and condemn- 
ing falsehood. However prevalent falsehood may be, 
the moral judgment of mankind is against it ; and the 
man who firmly and undeviatingly speaks the truth, 
even when pressed with temptations to prevaricate, is 
held to be worthy of honor. Falsehood is not the 
language of uncorrupted nature; but proceeds from art: 
and men never resort to it, but for the accomplishment 
of some vicious purpose. 

The obligation to speak the truth, may be proved by 
many passages of the Holy Scriptures. The judgments 
of God on Gehazi, 1 and on Ananias and Sapphira, 2 show 
God's abhorrence of falsehood ; and we are warned that 
liars shall have their part in the lake of fire. 3 

The obligation of veracity is not identical with that 
of reciprocity, or of benevolence. We may communi- 
cate true and useful information to a neighbor, in return 
for kindness received from him, or merely to gratify 
our own benevolent desire ; and in such cases it would 
be a sin against reciprocity or benevolence, to remain 
silent ; but it would not be a sin against veracity. The 
obligation of veracity is distinct. It does not in general 
determine when we shall speak ; but it binds us always 
when we do speak, to speak the truth. If we speak 
the truth to a person, because he has a right to it, we 
fulfil the obligation of both veracity and reciprocity ; 
and we violate the obligations of both, if we speak false- 
hood to one who has a right to the truth. But if we 

1 2 Kings v. 21-27. 2 Acts v. 1, 11. 3 Rev. xxi. 8. 



OBLIGATION OF VERACITY. 223 

utter falsehood to any one, because he has no right to 
the truth, though we do not sin against reciprocity, we 
sin against veracity. The obligation to speak the truth, 
is founded directly on the will of God, and not on the 
right of him whom we address. Truth is, in God, an 
attribute distinct from justice and benevolence ; and, in 
men, it is a distinct virtue. 

The obligation of veracity is violated, if we utter for 
truth what we know to be false. The laws of language 
allow the use of figures of speech, in which there is a 
departure from literal truth. He who says Achilles is a 
lion, speaks what is not literally true ; but he does not 
expect what he says to be taken for literal truth ; and, 
therefore, does not violate the law of veracity. On this 
ground the use of fables and parables is justified. 

The obligation of veracity is violated, if we utter for 
truth what we do not know to be true. What we con- 
sider probable, or receive as true on the testimony of 
others, we may state as probable, or as testified by 
others ; but if we affirm it to be true, we are responsi- 
ble for what we say, and transgress the law of veracity. 
We may be mistaken as to a fact, through the failure of 
the senses or of the memory. In this case the obliga- 
tion is to speak what we suppose ourselves to know ; or 
in other words, to speak to the best of our knowledge 
and belief. 

The obligation of veracity may be violated by tones, 
gestures, or the use of equivocal words ; or by an art- 
ful arrangement of facts ; or by exaggerating some 
circumstance, and extenuating or omitting some other. 
The rule in giving testimony is, to convey to others, as 
exactly as we can, the conceptions of our own minds, 
without increase or diminution ; to speak the truth, the 
whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

The obligation of veracity is universal. It binds at 



224 DUTIES OF VERACITY. 

home and abroad, in the intercourse of business or of 
fashion, and whether we address one or many. False- 
hood does not cease to be falsehood, when uttered in 
jest ; and what are called innocent lies, blunt the sensi- 
bility of the conscience, and prepare for wider depart- 
ures from strict virtue. ' Children and servants should 
be taught the obligation of strict veracity ; and they 
who approve in them slight departures from truth, are 
weakening the power of conscience, and doing essential 
injury to their moral character. 

The fallibility of men gives occasion to distinguish 
between physical truth and moral truth. Physical truth' 
is agreement with fact ; moral truth is agreement with 
the mental conception of the speaker. A man may, by 
mistaking a fact, chance to speak what is physically 
true, when he supposes himself to speak falsehood. In 
this case he is morally guilty of lying, notwithstanding 
the physical truth of what he utters. 

SECTION II. PROMISES. 

Since moral truth consists in agreement with the 
mental conception of the speaker, it always refers to 
the present state of his mind at the time of his speaking, 
but what is said may agree physically with the past or 
the future. The present state of the speaker's mind 
may be a memory of some past fact. In this case, 
when he expresses his conception, he gives his testi- 
mony concerning that fact. Or the present state may 
be an intention to perform some future action. In this 
case, the expression of this intention is a promise to 
perform that act. 

Moral truth, in promises, requires an agreement with 
the mental conception or intention of the speaker. If 
he promises what he does not intend to perform, he is 
guilty of falsehood, even though he afterwards change 



PROMISES. 225 

his mind and perform the act promised. A past fact 
testified, or a future act promised, may agree physically 
with what a speaker says ; but to constitute what tje 
says morally true, it must agree with his present mental 
conception. 

In making a promise, the primary obligation of vera- 
city requires that what is promised agree precisely with 
the intention of the promisor ; but there is a secondary 
obligation, which refers to the fulfilment of the promise. 
The rule on this subject is, that a promise to do a pos- 
sible and lawful act binds the promisor to fulfil it, 
according to the expectation voluntarily created. If 
the act promised be impossible, or contrary to the law 
of God, the promise. is not obligatory. If the promiser 
knew the impossibility or unlawfulness when he made 
the promise, he committed a crime for which he is 
bound to repent ; and he is bound to make amends to 
the promisee, unless he also knew the impossibility or 
unlawfulness of what was promised. 

An unexpressed intention to confer a benefit on an 
individual has not the obligation of a promise, nor has 
an intention expressed only to a third party. Neither 
does such an intention become a promise, if the party 
to be benefited obtains knowledge of the design not 
voluntarily communicated. It is possible for subse- 
quent events or disclosures to release from the obliga- 
tion of a promise ; but in this case, the promiser is 
bound to see that no one receives injury from his failure 
to fulfil. 

Were the obligation to fulfil a promise strictly iden- 
tical with the obligation of veracity, it would not be 
dependent on the expectation created, but would attach 
equally to the intention made known to a third party. 
A promise confers the right of expectation ; and whether 
it is made in return for something received, or merely 



226 DUTIES OF VERACITY. 

out of benevolence, it is as if property were conveyed, 
which cannot be afterwards reclaimed at the pleasure 
of the donor. Hence, the obligation to fulfil a promise 
may be referred to reciprocity ; but a failure to fulfil, 
justly creates a suspicion of the promiser's veracity at 
the time of making the promise. Hence, one who de- 
sires his reputation for veracity to be untarnished, will 
be careful to fulfil his promises. 

The expectation, voluntarily created, furnishes the 
rule for interpreting the language of a promise. Being 
the ground of the obligation, it also determines its 
extent. A promiser is bound by his promise, in the 
sense in which he supposed the promisee to under- 
stand it. 

SECTION III. CONTRACTS. 

A contract is a mutual promise ; and the obligation 
to fulfil it is subject to the same rules and exceptions 
as appertain to promises. A contract may contain a 
conditional promise, which, like any other conditional 
promise, is not obligatory if the condition be not per- 
formed. 

The failure of one party to fulfil a contract, some- 
times releases the other party from all obligation, and 
may even entitle him to damages. But in many cases 
the failing party ought to receive compensation for par- 
tial benefit rendered ; and, in such contracts as marriage, 
the failure of one party does not usually release the 
other party from obligation. 

Since a promise to perform an unlawful act is not 
obligatory, the promises of a contract cannot be bind- 
ing if made in violation of the divine law. A matri- 
monial contract cannot be made for a shorter period 
of time than life. If made at all, it must be made in 
accordance with the law of the Creator. 



CONTRACTS. 227 

The obligation to fulfil contracts, binds societies as 
well as individuals. It is a false plea that corporations 
have no conscience. If a corporation consists of human 
beings, every one of them has a conscience ; and every 
one of them brings guilt on himself, if he consents to 
the violation of a contract, or fails to use his best 
endeavor to prevent it. 

The treaties which nations make with each other are 
contracts which ought to be sacredly inviolate. A 
strong nation may have nothing to fear from man if it 
violates a treaty with a feeble one, unable to avenge the 
wrong : but there is verily a God who judgeth in the 
earth, and who will assuredly punish such perfidy. 

SECTION IV. OATHS. 

It is frequently of great importance, in cases of con- 
troversy between men, to ascertain facts, on which the 
rights of the parties depend. Persons, to whom these 
facts may be known, may have interests inclining them 
either not to testify, or to testify falsely. To protect 
the citizens in the enjoyment of their rights, civil 
government needs some means for eliciting the truth; 
and, for this purpose, it requires testimony to be given 
on oath. The witness is made to invoke the displeasure 
of God on him, if he speaks falsehood ; and, by this 
means, higher interests are brought to counteract the 
influence of those which incline to the giving of false 
testimony. Moreover, the laws provide special penal- 
ties for the crime of perjury. By the two-fold appre- 
hension of suffering from both God and man, the 
strongest possible guard against falsehood is presented. 

In oaths, appeal is made to the omniscience and the 
justice of God. As omniscient, he knows every fact 
to which any witness may be required to testify; or 
rather the mental conception to which the testimony, 



228 DUTIES OP VERACITY. 

if morally true, must correspond ; and, as just, he is 
expected to punish, with severity, those who presump- 
tuously use his name to sanction falsehood. The 
appeal to justice is made in such words as, " God do so 
to me, and more also;" or, "So help me God." These 
expressions signify the consent of the person who takes 
the oath, that the judgment of God may fall on him, 
if he speaks falsehood ; that the help and favor which 
he hopes to receive from God, may be suspended on 
the truth of what he declares. Such an appeal is of 
awful import ; and, if made irreverently, must be offen- 
sive to God; but, if his law authorizes such appeal, 
and it be made for just cause, and in a right spirit, we 
must regard it as a solemn act of religious worship. 

That God's law does authorize oaths, may be argued 
from the third commandment, which appears to have 
primary reference to such invocation of his name. 
" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
in vain ; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that 
taketh his name in vain." 1 Any irreverent use of 
God's name may be understood to be prohibited by the 
spirit of this commandment; but to take God's name 
in vain, probably imports to use the authority of his 
name unworthily. So interpreted, the commandment 
forbids perjury and profane swearing. As the com- 
mand, " Thou shalt not steal," proves the right of 
property; so the command, "Thou shalt not take the 
name of the Lord thy God in vain," proves the law- 
fulness of using the authority of his name, when not 
in vain. A commandment which guards against the 
abuse of oaths, implies the lawfulness of their use. 

The lawfulness of oaths may be argued from the 
example of God himself, who is frequently represented 

1 Ex. xx. 7. 



OATHS. 229 

in Scripture as speaking on oath ; 1 by the example of 
holy men before the giving of the law ; 2 by the express 
requirement of oaths in the Mosaic code; 3 by the ex- 
ample of Paul, who, in his epistles, uses the solemnity 
of an oath; 4 by the declaration of the same apostle, 
describing the necessity and proper use of an oath to 
be for the end of strife ; 5 and by the example of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, who, in his trial before the Jewish 
court, allowed himself to be put on oath, and gave on 
oath the answer for which he was condemned to die. 6 

An oath, being an act of religious worship, requires 
a solemn sense of God's character, and of our account- 
ability to him. In making the solemn appeal, the lift- 
ing up of the hand is an appropriate ceremony. The 
kissing of the Bible, though in common use, is less 
appropriate. The angel mentioned in 10th chapter of 
Revelation, did not kiss the book which he had in his 
hand, and which the best commentators understand to 
be the Bible, but swore by lifting up his hand to heaven. 

In oaths, all mental reservation is inadmissible, and 
all purposed use of equivocal language. He who takes 
the oath, must understand and use words in the sense 
in which he supposes they will be understood by those 
for whose assurance the oath is taken. 

Promissory oaths are often taken by persons who 
enter on some office, and thereby bind themselves to 
the faithful performance of its duties. The thing pro- 
mised, must be lawful, and within the power of him 
who engages to perform it. 

Several objections to the lawfulness of oaths need to 
be considered. 

1 Gen. xxii. 16 ; Ps. lxxxix. 3 ; Heb. vii. 21. 2 Gen. xiv. 22 ; 
xlvii. 29-31 ; 1. 25. 3 Ex. xxii. 10, 11 ; Deut. vi. 13. * Kom. i. 
9 ; 2 Cor. i. 23 ; Gal. i. 20. 5 Heb. vi. 16. 6 Matt. xxvi. 63, 64. 
20 



230 DUTIES OP VERACITY. 

Objection 1. — Christ commanded, " Swear not at all 
* * * but let your communication be yea, yea, nay, 
nay ; for whatsoever is more than these, cometh of 
evil." 1 The same command is repeated by one of the 
inspired writers. 2 

The command of Christ must not be understood to 
condemn his own example. He acknowledged the au- 
thority of the Jewish law, and, in obedience to it, took 
the oath administered by the high priest ; but he did 
not use oaths in his ordinary discourse. His command, 
"Swear not at all," refers to ordinary " communica- 
tion," which was to be, "yea, yea; nay, nay," and 
does not refer to the testimony required by law. The 
same interpretation must be given to the other passage 
of Scripture cited in the objection. 

Objection 2. — Human knowledge and human virtue 
are so imperfect, that no one has a right to peril his soul 
on the truth of what he says ; and the laws^of society 
have no right to require it. 

If human imperfection renders oaths morally wrong, 
the Mosaic law would not have required them. They 
were not a part of its ceremonies, adapted specially to 
their worship, and abolished at the coming of Christ. 
They possess intrinsic moral quality ; and, if essen- 
tially wrong, could not have formed a part of the judi- 
cial code, given by God himself to his ancient people. 

Oaths bind to moral, not physical truth ; and, there- 
fore, the imperfection of human knowledge is not a 
valid objection to their use. We are required to swear 
"to the best of our knowledge and belief." An honest 
utterance of the mind is all that the oath requires ; and 
a sense of our ignorance need not make us fear to be 
honest. But it is alleged that human virtue is also 
weak. If this imperfection can excuse from a 

1 Matt. v. 34-37. 2 James v. 12. 



OATHS. 231 

solemn appeal to God, it can excuse from a final arraign- 
ment at his bar. In oaths we consent to the scrutiny 
and judgment of God ; and to these we are compelled 
to submit, whether we consent or not. The oath presses 
on the conscience a responsibility which cannot be 
evaded, and needs to be felt. The imperfection of 
human virtue, so far from being a valid objection to the 
use of oaths, renders their use necessary. 

The objection applies with most plausibility to oaths 
of office, in which an individual promises to perform the 
duties to the best of his ability. The facts which are 
testified on oath, being past and*fixed, are necessarily 
definite, and unaffected by any imperfection of the wit- 
ness ; but the future acts of one who takes a promissory 
oath, are indefinite, and dependent on the will of the 
promiser. On this account, it has been alleged that 
promissory oaths are unavoidably made with mental 
reservation, in which the individual retains the right 
of interpreting the phrase, " best of his ability." But, 
though past facts are definite, the witness who testifies 
respecting them, does not swear that his testimony 
agrees with the facts, but with his conception of them ; 
and this conception is liable to be affected by the imper- 
fection of his memory, and even by prejudices, from 
which he cannot be sure that he is perfectly exempt. 
He testifies to the best of his knowledge and belief, and 
this phrase is as indefinite as the other. He who swears 
that he will give true testimony as to a fact concerning 
which he is about to be questioned, makes a promise 
of a future act ; and although the past fact is definite, 
the future fulfilment of the promise is indefinite, and 
liable to be affected by the imperfection of the witness. 
The case does not differ essentially from that of oaths 
of office. In both, he who administers the oath,- he who 
takes it, and all the parties concerned, are aware in 



232 DUTIES OF VERACITY. 

what respect the language used is indefinite ; and, there- 
fore, there is no need of mental reservation. A man 
who, without an oath, undertakes to tell what he knows 
concerning a past fact, or engages to perform the future 
duties of an office, which he receives, is bound to be 
sincere in making the promise, and faithful in execut- 
ing it. 

In the obligation to sincerity and faithfulness, the 
conscientious man recognises the authority of God, 
even without an oath ; and the oath is his solemn and 
formal recognition of that authority. Without the 
oath, he realizes that a failure in sincerity and faithful- 
ness deserves the displeasure of God ; and the oath is 
his solemn and formal consent to act under God's moral 
government. Consciousness of imperfection may induce 
us, in everything, to serve the Lord with fear and 
trembling ; but we have no right, on account of it, to 
refuse an acknowledgment of the presence, authority, 
and moral government of him to whom, whether willing 
or unwilling, we must give account. 

Objection 3. — For the prevention of every other 
crime, the laws rely on human penalties ; and these pen- 
alties ought to suffice for the crime of bearing false wit- 
ness. 

Human penalties would be unavailing to prevent any 
species of crime, if there were no means of obtaining 
testimony against the criminal. Hence oaths are need- 
ful in trial for every crime ; and their solemn reference 
to God's judgments is needed, to give efficacy to the 
penal threatenings with which the laws seek to prevent 
crime of every kind. 

Objection 4. — The testimony of persons who, from 
conscientious scruples, refuse to take oaths, is found to 
be as reliable as that of other persons ; and therefore 
oaths are unnecessary. 



OATHS. 233 

Men of scrupulous consciences are not the persons 
from whom false testimony is to be feared. It cannot be 
inferred, from their case, that oaths are universally un- 
necessary. Had God judged them useless, he would 
not have required them under the Mosaic law. 

Objection 5. — The frequency of oaths lessens their 
solemnity and effect, and produces irreverence towards 
God. 

This may be a valid objection against the multiplica- 
tion of oaths, but not against their lawfulness. Proba- 
bly it would be better to dispense with oaths of office, 
when the inducements to unfaithfulness may be suffi- 
ciently counteracted by human penalties. 



20* 



CHAPTER XL 
SOCIAL DUTIES IN GENERAL. 



The Creator designed that man should live in society; 
this may be proved by the necessities and propensities 
of human nature, and by the teachings of revelation. 

The necessities of human nature require society. If 
human beings lived in total separation from each other, 
the race could not be propagated, and the individuals 
would spend their days in wretchedness. They would 
be unable to contend with the beasts of the field, having 
neither instincts nor physical strength sufficient for the 
conflict. The arts of life would be unknown ; and 
hence, men would be without clothing and habitation, 
to protect from cold and storm. Man's victory over 
the elements and the beasts of the field, is obtained by 
reason ; but reason is too slowly developed to meet his 
necessities, if he entered on his course in solitude. 

The propensities of human nature are averse to soli- 
tude. Solitary confinement is to man a terrible penalty. 
A few individuals of the race have chosen the hermit's 
life ; but they have made the choice under the influence 
of motives which have overpowered the natural ten- 
dencies of their minds, and which have left them 
scarcely men. Were it possible for learning and the 
arts to be cultivated without society, and all man's 
physical wants supplied, there are impulses in his 
nature which would never be gratified, and undefined 
and inextinguishable longing would render him un- 

(234) 



SOCIAL DUTIES IN GENERAL. 235 

happy. But suppose that he could escape all these, 
his highest happiness would still be, to a great extent, 
negative. To the joy of heart which proceeds from 
the exercise of social affections, he must for ever be a 
stranger ; and hence, his highest pleasure would be a 
pitiable absence of all that renders human life de- 
sirable. 

The volume of revelation begins its account of man, 
after his creation, with the divine declaration, "It is 
not good that the man should be alone." 1 And when 
God made known his will from Sinai, every precept in 
the second table of the law supposes man to be in a state 
of society. Everywhere throughout the Scriptures, man 
is regarded as a social being. It is not the will of God, 
as made known in the Bible, that men should forsake 
human society, and dwell in solitude ; but pure and 
undefiled religion consists in visiting the fatherless and 
widows in their affliction, and in keeping ourselves 
unspotted from the world. 2 

In the precept, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself," the term « neighbor" signifies any fellow-man. 
When Christ was asked to explain it, he illustrated its 
meaning by the parable of the good Samaritan. The 
Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans ; and, in 
explaining and applying the precept, did not hold them- 
selves bound to love the Samaritans as neighbors. But 
the parable exhibited the benevolence of a Samaritan 
to a suffering Jew, and taught the Jews that their 
natural prejudices ought to be surmounted, and that 
their love ought to embrace even those who were 
accounted enemies. So interpreted, the precept binds 
us to love every individual of our race. 

Love to individuals is expressed in various forms of 

1 Gen. ii. 18. 2 James i. 27. 



236 SOCIAL DUTIES IN GENERAL. 

external duty, according to their circumstances. The 
benevolent Samaritan rendered services to the Jew, 
which his suffering circumstances required, and which 
would have been impracticable, or worse than useless, 
in other circumstances. The duties which form the 
outward embodiment of love, are also modified by the 
various relations which individuals may sustain to us. 
Every individual of mankind is a neighbor to be loved; 
but, in the arrangements of society, peculiar relations 
arise, giving origin to peculiar obligations. No one 
ceases to be a neighbor ; and the obligation to love 
every one as a neighbor does not cease ; but, instead of 
unvarying benevolence to every human being, we have, 
according to the relations which spring up in society, 
the modifications of love corresponding to these rela- 
tions — such as conjugal love, parental love, &c. And 
the outward forms of duty, in which these various 
modifications of love are expressed, vary according to 
the several relations, and become what are denominated 
social duties. 

Some social relations arc of divine appointment. 
The relations between husband and wife, between pa- 
rent and child, are of this sort ; and we may add the 
relations which members of Christian churches bear to 
each other, and also those of citizens to each other, 
and to the government under which they live. The 
two chapters which follow next in order, will discuss 
the duties of these relations, except those appertaining 
to the church, which properly belong to the department 
of Theology. 

SIMPLE SOCIETY. 

The simplest form of society is that in which indi- 
viduals voluntarily unite for the accomplishment of 
some specified object. It frequently happens that some 



SOCIAL DUTIES IN GENERAL. 237 

good, which individual effort could not obtain, may be 
attained by the united co-operation of many ; and, for 
the attainment of this end, they voluntarily engage to 
co-operate with each other. Besides the general obli- 
gation to each other, as neighbors, they enter into new 
obligations by their mutual contract ; and these new 
obligations are to be ascertained by the terms of the 
contract. The persons so united, form a voluntary 
society ; and the engagement which they enter into is 
the constitution of the society. 

Membership in a voluntary society must, of course, 
originate in the consent of the individuals who compose 
it ; but it does not follow that the members may leave 
the society at their pleasure. If the object of the asso- 
ciation is unlawful, any member may abandon it at any 
time, on the ground that a promise to do wrong is not 
obligatory. But if the object is lawful, the members 
are bound by their contract with each other, and cannot 
leave the society contrary to this contract, without the 
consent of the other members. A failure to perform 
their duty to the society binds them to make amends, 
just as a failure to fulfil any other contract. 

The members of a voluntary society may, or may 
not, enter into association with each other on terms of 
equality. The consent of each is alike necessary ; but 
this consent may assign to one individual a higher place, 
and a larger influence, than to another. This inequal- 
ity, if established in the constitution or original compact, 
cannot afterwards become a just ground of separation 
from the society, so long as those who hold the higher 
place of influence conform to the constitution. 

When individuals enter into society on terms of 
equality, the action of the body is naturally determined 
by the will of the majority, unless the constitution pro- 
vides otherwise. But the object of the association 



238 SOCIAL DUTIES IN GENERAL. 

cannot be changed, except by the unanimous vote of 
the members. To change the object is, in fact, to dis- 
solve the old body, and form a new one ; and no person 
can be required to enter into the new association with- 
out his consent. If a majority decide to change the 
object of the society, they constitute a new society, 
and leave those who do not consent to the change to 
prosecute, if they choose, the object of the original 
association. On this ground, property acquired by a 
society cannot be applied, at the will of the majority, 
to a purpose not contemplated in the original compact, 
but belongs to those who adhere to the constitution. 



CHAPTEE XII. 
FAMILY DUTIES. 



SECTION I. MARRIAGE. 

Marriage is an institution of the Creator, who 
thought it not good for man to be alone, and created 
woman a help-meet for him. Adam and Eve were 
formed to be husband and wife ; and, as joined together 
in this relation, were commanded to increase, and mul- 
tiply, and replenish the earth. Beasts of the field 
propagate their species without marriage : but, in various 
species of birds, the flocks divide into pairs in the spring 
season, to build nests, and rear their several broods of 
young. This instinct of birds shows the Creator's will 
respecting them ; and the proof is abundant, that God 
designed the human race to be propagated by means 
of marriage. We may see in the affection which a 
feathered pair exhibit for each other, and in the joint 
care which they exercise over their young, advantages 
which human beings, if guided by reason only, ought to 
secure to themselves ; and these advantages the benevo- 
lent Creator has designed for man in the matrimonial 
institution. 

The affection which ought to subsist between husband 
and wife, is adapted to be one of the chief sources of 
human happiness. The married pair separate from all 
the world beside, and give themselves to each other in 

(239) 



240 FAMILY DUTIES. 

the closest of human relations. The man leaves father 
and mother, to cleave to his wife ; and the tender 
female, in like manner, leaves the home of her child- 
hood, and the protection of affectionate parents, to 
cleave to her husband. The new relation requires the 
parties to become "one flesh," and to love each other 
as their own bodies. Strong affection between them is 
necessary to attain the ends of the matrimonial institu- 
tion ; and where it exists, it opens a perennial source 
of joy. The sunshine of life gives double happiness, 
because they enjoy it together ; and, when dark days 
come, they support and cheer each other. If united in 
Christian faith, as well as in conjugal love, the tie 
death itself cannot sever. As helpers of each other's 
faith and joy, they walk together in the way of the 
Lord ; and, as heirs together of the grace of life in 
Christ Jesus, they rejoice in the common hope of the 
heavenly inheritance, and of dwelling for ever in one 
eternal happy home. 

The benefits of marriage are not confined to those 
who are at the head of the family. The children are 
shut up by it under the joint protection of their parents, 
and blessed with their united care. If piety and love 
regulate the household, the children are trained in the 
ways of virtue and religion, and are taught how to 
enrich themselves with wealth of character, and treasure 
laid up in heaven. Children born out of wedlock are 
usually thrown on the care of the mother, the weaker 
parent ; and hence they have less than half of the means 
which legitimate children enjoy for support and educa- 
tion. They witness none of the sacred affection and 
tender sympathy which subsist between parents law- 
fully united in the conjugal relation; and they have 
few inducements to obey the command, "Honor thy 
father and mother." Such unfortunates enter on life 



MARRIAGE. 241 

under many disadvantages ; yet, if surrounded by a 
society generally virtuous, they may have sufficient in- 
tercourse with well-regulated families to guard their 
morals. But if marriage were universally abolished, all 
the human race would be born in these sad circum- 
stances. All would be without a well-regulated home 
for their childhood, and without the influence and 
example of well-regulated families in the vicinity. 
Brought into the world like the beasts of the field, they 
would be given up to animal appetites and passions, 
without the training necessary to develop and cultivate 
the moral powers. 

Another advantage of marriage consists in the pro- 
vision which it makes for aged and infirm parents. 
Children who have been taught to honor their father 
and mother, take pleasure in sustaining them when old 
age comes, and in rendering their declining days happy. 
But were matrimony unknown, not only would helpless 
infants be left to perish for want of parental care, but 
aged and helpless parents would also be left to perish 
for want of filial affection and maintenance. 

Civil government was at first patriarchal ; and, hav- 
ing derived its origin from family government, it is still 
indebted to family government for its most efficient 
support. When children hav« been taught to obey their 
parents, they are prepared to obey civil rulers ; and 
virtue and order must prevail in a state which is com- 
posed of well-regulated families. But if family organi- 
zations were destroyed, the fences of morality would be 
broken down, and vice would overrun the community, 
spreading everywhere misery and desolation. 

Marriage, by producing family government, is an im- 
portant means of preserving and perpetuating religion 
in the world. A well-regulated family is a garden 
enclosed, in which the young plants of piety may be 
21 



242 FAMILY DUTIES. 

nurtured. Here we find the examples of religious edu- 
cation, by which men are trained to moral greatness, 
and prepared to adorn, elevate, and bless the human 
race, and glorify God. Were marriage banished from 
the earth, religious education would cease ; and human 
beings, herding together like the beasts, would be given 
up to beastly vices. If the natural tendencies of things 
were not counteracted by some divine interposition, the 
knowledge of God and the practice of virtue would 
soon become extinct in the world. 

As God's appointed means of propagating the human 
race, as his first institution for the benefit of the race, 
and as the source of many inestimable blessings, indis- 
pensable to the existence and happiness of society, mar- 
riage deserves to be honored by all ; and its sanctity to 
be guarded from every encroachment. To incorrect 
views respecting the importance of this divine institu- 
tion, and a want of reverence for it, much of the vice 
may be traced, that now degrades mankind, curses 
human society, and brings down the wrath of heaven, 
as formerly on sinful Sodom. 

Chastity. 

Marriage is a union of one man and one woman for 
life. It requires the full consent of the parties ; and 
this consent ought to be intelligently expressed, accord- 
ing to the laws and usages at the time and place of 
forming the union. Every union of like kind, which is 
not formed for life, and with due nuptial formality, is 
a violation of the marriage law. Such violation may 
proceed from a contempt for marriage in both parties, 
and a determination to be free from its restraints. 
Where open contempt for marriage is not avowed, the 
parties transgressing must fail to possess due reverence 
for the sacred institution, and for him who ordained it. 



MARRIAGE. 243 

In such reverence true chastity consists. It contem- 
plates the creation of man, male and female, as a divine 
arrangement, having reference to the matrimonial rela- 
tion ; and in every act, word, and thought, it exhibits 
profound reverence for this divine arrangement, and 
unwillingness to contravene it. If such reverence for 
God and his sacred and benevolent institution fills the 
mind, no unchaste passion can stir, no unchaste imagi- 
nation can rove abroad. 

Of the virtue which we are contemplating, we expect 
to find, and we do find, the best specimens in the softer 
sex. Modesty is essential to female loveliness. Any 
indecent behavior is sufficient to degrade a female from 
the high place which she ought to occupy in society ; 
but, in order to her true loveliness, something more is 
necessary than mere abstinence from gross acts of im- 
propriety. Her tongue must be unpractised in the 
utterance, and her ear untainted with the sound of in- 
delicate allusions ; and her imagination should be as 
pure as the new-fallen snow. Whether such purity can 
be preserved by those who frequent theatres, or read 
the current novels of the day, and the writings of such 
poets as Byron and Moore, I leave for others to 
decide. There may be daughters, there may be mothers, 
who think so perfect purity unnecessary in the character 
of woman ; but what mother, who desires her daughter 
to be happily united in wedlock with a virtuous man, 
would wish it known that the young beauty is indelicate 
in conversation, or that she has a polluted imagination ? 
But if men were willing to tolerate mental familiarity 
with crime in the fair sex, so long as gross acts of trans- 
gression are avoided, it ought to be remembered that 
there is a God who searches the heart, and who will 
bring into judgment whatever is offensive to his holiness. 

The virtue of chastity is not required of females 



244 FAMILY DUTIES. 

only. In the judgment of mankind, it may be more 
obligatory on females, but not in the judgment of God. 
In the present life, a heavier penalty for violation falls 
on woman ; but there is no reason to expect a heavier 
penalty in the life to come. On the contrary, since 
the retributions of the future world will perfect the 
moral government of God, by supplying defects in its 
present administration, it may be more tolerable, in the 
day of judgment, for women than for men,- who violate 
the law of chastity. Let no young man consent to be 
less pure, than he desires her to be, whom he is willing 
to take to his bosom, the wife of his choice, the loved, 
admired, and trusted associate of his future years. 

To estimate rightly the virtue of chastity, we must 
contemplate the tendency of marriage to promote the 
well-being of mankind. Every failure in the virtue, is 
an attack on the matrimonial institution, and needs 
nothing but universal prevalence in order to banish the 
institution from the world. It cannot be a light crime, 
however carelessly or presumptuously it may be com- 
mitted, which pollutes the very fountain of human 
existence, and makes sport of God's command for 
peopling the world with immortal beings. Let every 
man who loves the happiness of his race, and fears the 
judgments of God, keep himself pure. God's will on 
this subject is clearly made known in the Holy Scrip- 
tures ; and his awful judgments therein revealed, are 
sufficient to fill the minds of transgressors with terror ; 
and as the beginning of his divine retribution, loath- 
some disease and rottenness of bones are, in many 
cases, the present reward of transgression. 

Polygamy. 

Marriage, as originally instituted, was the union of 
one man and one woman ; but polygamy, or the taking 



MARRIAGE. 245 

of several wives, has prevailed in many countries. The 
first example on record, occurred among the descend- 
ants of Cain. 1 It did not exist in the family of Noah, 
and perhaps in none of the virtuous families before the 
flood ; but, in after ages, some of the best men whose 
history is given in the Bible, had more wives than one. 
The practice, though opposed to the general teachings 
of the Old Testament, was tolerated by the Mosaic 
law ; but tne precepts of Christ forbid it, and restore 
the institution to its original form. 

Some interpreters of Scripture suppose that the law 
of Moses prohibited polygamy, in the words, " Thou 
shalt not take a wife to her sister." 2 They translate 
these words, " Thou shalt not take one wife to an- 
other;" but sound criticism rejects this translation. 
The Hebrew phrase here used, is literally, a woman to 
her sister. It sometimes has a sort of pronominal use, 
as a distributive of an expressed antecedent in the 
feminine gender, when this antecedent denotes inani- 
mate objects. In such cases, the presence of the ante- 
cedent word guards the phrase from being construed 
literally ; but no such guard exists in the passage under 
consideration, and the laws of interpretation require 
the word sister to be taken literally, as it must be every- 
where else in the context. The rendering, which is 
given in the text of the common English version, ex- 
presses the true sense of the original, and does not 
prohibit polygamy. Other passages in the Mosaic 
code show that polygamy was tolerated. 3 

The evil effects of polygamy were felt in the family 
of the patriarch Jacob, whose wives were not equally 
beloved, and had the happiness of their intercourse with 
each other disturbed by jealousy. In the family of 

1 Gen. iv. 23. 2 Lev. xviii. 18. 3 Deut. xxi. 15. 

21* 



246 FAMILY DUTIES. 

David the injury done by Amnon to the sister of 
Absalom, and the vengeance taken by the latter, exem- 
plify the evil tendency of polygamy on the children. 

The welfare of children requires the undivided coun- 
sel and care of parents who are "one flesh." The 
nearly equal number of the two sexes, as born into the 
world, indicates the will of the Creator that every man 
should have but one wife and every woman but one 
husband. This arrangement, moreover, multiplies the 
race more rapidly and provides better for the support of 
the family. By such considerations as these, natural reli- 
gion teaches that polygamy is opposed to the will of God. 

Although the law of Moses tolerated polygamy, the 
first book of that inspired writer furnishes proof that 
the Creator designed each man to have but one wife. 
The union of Adam to his one wife was the first exam- 
ple of marriage ; and, in imitation of this example, it 
is said, " a man shall leave his father and his mother, 
and shall cleave unto his wife," not his wives; and it 
is added, "they shall be one flesh." 1 Several wives 
could not be united to one another, and to one husband, 
so as to constitute "one flesh," in the sense of this 
declaration. As the first book of the Old Testament 
gives proof that polygamy is not according to the will 
of God ; so also does the last. Malachi represents the 
taking of another wife as treachery to the first, and a 
violation of the marriage covenant. He refers to the 
original institution of marriage, and explains that only 
one wife was created for Adam ; not because the creat- 
ing power was exhausted, but because union with but 
one wife better secures the religious training of the chil- 
dren. 2 In the New Testament we have the teachings 
of Christ on the subject. Quoting the passage above 

1 Gen. ii. 24. 2 Mai. ii. 15. 



MARRIAGE. 247 

cited from Genesis, he said, " and they twain shall be 
one flesh;" 1 limiting the number expressly to two; and 
he explained the obligation of the parties in marriage 
according to the original design of the institution. In 
harmony with the teaching of Christ, Paul says, " Let 
every man have his own wife, and let every woman have 
her own husband." 2 

So wide a deviation from the original institution, as 
that one woman should have several husbands, has 
seldom been tolerated by the moral sentiments of any 
people. The Mosaic law accounted this adultery, and 
punished the criminal parties with death. If one man 
has several wives, though his affections may be une- 
qually divided among the children, he can claim them 
all as his, and extend to them all paternal care. But 
if a woman had several husbands, no one of them could 
claim the children as his, or feel toward them the obli- 
gation of a father. The law of Christ equally prohibits 
the union of one man to more than one wife, and 
accounts it adultery, even when the first wife has been 
divorced, if not for just cause. 

Divorce. 

The marriage covenant makes the husband and wife 
" one flesh." An intimacy is created, to which no third 
party can be admitted, without violation of the cove- 
nant ; and such violation, according to the doctrine of 
Christ, is the only sufficient ground of divorce. The 
law of Moses allowed divorce for other causes, but 
Christ explained that this was not according to the 
original institution. 3 

The civil laws frequently grant divorce in violation 
of the divine rule. Various causes may justify the 

1 Matt. xix. 5. 2 1 Cor. vii. 2. 3 Matt. xix. 8. 



248 FAMILY DUTIES. 

allowance of a separation from bed and board, and the 
making of legal provision for the appropriation of the 
property, and the maintenance of the children ; but 
human laws have no right to dissolve the marriage 
covenant, and permit the parties to marry again, except 
in the case for which Christ has allowed divorce. 
" What God hath joined together, let not man put 
asunder." The covenant can be annulled by nothing 
but death, or the criminal violation of it by one of the 
parties. In either of these cases, the remaining party 
is free from obligation. Some have understood Paul, 
in 1 Cor. vii. 15, to teach that a deserted husband or 
wife is free from the matrimonial obligation, and at 
liberty to marry again. But his language implies 
nothing more than that the deserted party is not bound 
to follow the deserter, and continue the performance 
of conjugal duties. Since Christ did not allow the 
privilege of marrying again to an unlawfully divorced 
party, it cannot be that Paul allowed it to one merely 
deserted. 

It is important to matrimonial happiness, that the 
parties should understand the conjugal relation to be 
formed for life. This tends to make them one in feeling 
and interest, and presents a strong inducement to bear 
with each other's infirmities, and accommodate them- 
selves to the necessities of their condition. When 
divorce is obtainable for trifling causes, a sense of inse- 
curity is easily engendered, incompatible with the per- 
fect confidence which the married pair should repose in 
each other. 

Incest. 

Marriage with near relatives is called incest, and is 
prohibited by the law of God. Paul speaks of it as a 
crime not named even among the Gentiles, « That one 



MARRIAGE. 249 

should have his father's wife." 1 It appears from this, 
that men who were guided by the mere light of nature, 
reprobated this connection as inadmissible, because of 
the relationship between the parties. The unavoidable 
intimacy into which near relatives are thrown, renders 
it desirable for the preservation of their purity, that a 
thought of intermarriage should not enter their minds. 
The law of incest invests their persons with a species 
of sanctity ; and, by marking out boundaries within 
which conjugal affection is not permitted to enter, 
reserves an appropriate sphere for the exercise of the 
other domestic affections. It has been said that races 
of animals are improved by an intermixture of breeds; 
and some have maintained, that marriage with near rela- 
tives tends to produce mental imbecility in the off- 
spring. 

The New Testament contains no express precept 
against incest. Natural religion is incapable of deter- 
mining the degrees of relationship within which mar- 
riage ought not to be allowed. We need the wisdom of 
the Creator to determine the proper boundary for us ; 
and his wisdom did determine for the people of Israel, 
and gave the law recorded in the Old Testament. A 
regulation peculiar to the Hebrews made it necessary, 
for the preservation of their family inheritances, that a 
brother should take the wife of a deceased brother who 
had died childless ; but the general law of incest, given 
to that people, is applicable to human society every- 
where, because the same relations subsist everywhere. 
Paul referred to the Old Testament, when he said, " All 
Scripture is profitable for instruction in righteousness ;" 2 
and the Old Testament law of incest must be our rule 
of righteousness, in the absence of any rule on the 
subject in the clearer revelation of the New Testament. 

1 1 Cor. v. 1. 2 2 Tim. iii. 16. 



250 FAMILY DUTIES. 

A man is forbidden to marry any one that is "near 
of kin to him ;" 1 that is, according to the proper import 
of the Hebrew phrase so translated, any near blood- 
relative. The degrees prohibited are ; 1. The perpen- 
dicular line of ascent and descent, which includes father, 
mother, grandfather, grandmother, son, daughter, grand- 
son, granddaughter. 2. The next parallel line, which 
includes the brothers and sisters of those in the former 
line. The widow of a blood-relative is reckoned in the 
place of her deceased husband ; and, if he stood within 
the prohibited degree, marriage with her is prohibited, 
just as if she were herself a blood-relative of that 
degree. 2 

By a distinct prohibition, the female ancestors and 
descendants of a deceased wife, are included among 
those with whom marriage is unlawful. 3 

Marriage with a deceased wife's sister, though not to 
be advised, is not prohibited. A man was forbidden to 
take a wife to her sister to vex her in her lifetime, after 
the example of Jacob, who married two sisters ; but the 
limitation in her lifetime, implies that it would be law- 
ful after her death. A man is forbidden to marry the 
widow of a deceased brother, because she stands to him 
as a blood-relative ; but the sister of a deceased wife is 
not reckoned as a blood-relative. It may be objected, 
that an unmarried woman ought to reckon the husband 
of her deceased sister in the place of that sister, that 
is, as a brother ; but this does not appear to be the 
Scripture mode of computation. The two cases differ 
from each other, in the same way that to have several 
husbands differed from polygamy. 

1 Lev. xviii. 6. 2 Lev. xviii. 7-16. 3 Lev. xviii. 17. 



DUTIES OF HUSBANDS. 251 

SECTION II. DUTIES OF HUSBANDS. 

I. Husbands are under obligation to love their 
wives. 

Love is the moral bond of society, and is declared 
by an inspired writer to be the fulfilling of the law. 
The various relations in human society give occasion 
for various forms of duty ; but of every duty, love is 
the soul, without which the outward form is lifeless. 
Cold civilities may pass for duties, among persons who 
have little intercourse with each other, and in whom 
profession may be taken for reality; but the intimacy 
of the conjugal relation gives opportunity to test the 
sincerity of professions, and detect the empty formality 
of service which proceeds not from the heart. Hence, 
love is, in the highest degree, essential to the duties of 
the conjugal state ; and without it every attention, 
however officious, has the offensiveness of a lifeless 
corpse. 

Love seeks the happiness of the object beloved. 
Persons united in conjugal love, find their highest plea- 
sure in promoting the happiness of each other. If a 
burden is to be borne, each seeks to bear it, to the 
relief of the other; and if some good is to be enjoyed, 
each seeks to secure it for the other. Earthly bliss 
loses its charm, if they cannot enjoy it together ; and 
the hope of heaven is rendered more delightful, if at- 
tended with the confident expectation of being com- 
panions in glory through eternal ages. 

The duty of husbands to love their wives, is en- 
joined in such passages of Scripture as the following: 
" So ought men to love their wives, as their own 
bodies." 1 " Let every one of you love his wife even 

1 Eph. v. 28. 



252 FAMILY DUTIES. 

as himself." 1 " Husbands, love your wives, and be not 
bitter against them." 2 

II. Husbands are under obligation to be faithful to 
their wives. 

The marriage covenant binds the parties to each 
other, by vows which have the importance and solem- 
nity of an oath. Adultery is a gross violation of this 
covenant, a base and detestable offence against the 
other party in the covenant, against social happiness, 
against truth, and against God. This crime inflicts a 
death-blow on domestic happiness. In general, it would 
be far better for the family if the guilty party had 
died. The surviving parent and the children might then 
have borne their loss without a sense of degradation, 
and could have honored the memory of the lost one ; 
but the crime which breaks the marriage bond, makes 
the children orphans disgraced, and fills the family 
with bitterest misery. The prevalence of this crime, 
because of the connection of family government with 
the general welfare of society, tends to loosen the bonds 
of civil government, and overthrow all law and order ; 
and, because of the connection of family discipline 
with religion, it tends to banish religion from the 
w T orld, and bring down on mankind the heaviest judg- 
ments of heaven. Some of the most fearful denuncia- 
tions contained in the Bible, are against this crime. 

Conjugal fidelity requires the continued manifesta- 
tion of conjugal love. All the tender offices to which 
love prompts, should be performed with unwearied per- 
severance ; not from constraint, but from a full heart. 
The married pair, in their intercourse with other per- 
sons, should never give to each other occasion for the 
suspicion, that their mutual affection can be disturbed 

1 Eph. v. 33. 2 Col. iii. 19. 



DUTIES OF WIVES. 253 

by even a momentary preference for a third party. 
The husband violates this obligation, when he habitu- 
ally roams abroad for society ; and, instead of cleaving 
to his wife, exhibits more pleasure in the company of 
others. 

III. Husbands are under obligation to support and 
protect their wives. 

The maintenance of the family devolves chiefly on 
the husband. He has superior strength for labor, is 
better fitted for intercourse with the world, and is 
exempt from many burdens which necessarily fall on 
the mother of his children. It is unfeeling in him to 
add to these burdens, by requiring her to labor for the 
maintenance of the family. She leans on his strong 
arm for support, and it is his duty to cherish her as 
the weaker vessel. It should be his pleasure to pro- 
tect her from the calamities of life, and the rude 
assaults of the world ; and in this service he should be 
willing to exhaust his energies, and, if necessary, sacri- 
fice his life. 

IV. Husbands are under obligation to assist their 
wives. 

The wife has her proper duties, in the performance 
of which she needs the sympathy and aid of her hus- 
band. It is in his power to lighten her burdens, and 
cheer her in her toils. When sickness has rendered 
her unable to bear the care of the house, he should 
supply the lack of service to the best of his ability; 
and his cheerful efforts should give her assurance that, 
if she should be removed by death, she might safely 
trust her motherless children to his redoubled care. 

SECTION III. DUTIES OF WIVES. 

I. Wives are under obligation to love their husbands. 
22 



254 FAMILY DUTIES. 

II. Wives are under obligation to be faithful to their 
husbands. 

The obligation of the wife to love and fidelity is the 
same as that of the husband, which was considered in 
the last section. 

III. Wives are under obligation to submit to their 
husbands. 

If the husband loves his wife, as his duty requires, 
he cannot act in disregard of her wishes, or extort from 
her a reluctant service. Conjugal love will seldom fail 
to produce unanimity; and will leave, in general, as 
little room for the exercise of authority, as for the 
coercion jof physical strength. But when, after affec- 
tionate consultation, they fail to attain unity of judg- 
ment, the Creator has constituted the husband the head 
of the family, and lodged with him the responsibility 
of acting. In this case, it is made the duty of the wife 
to yield ; and she exhibits, in cheerful submission, a 
lovely greatness which she could never attain by the 
exercise of authority. She may be conscious that her 
mental endowments are not inferior, and confident that 
her judgment is right, while she, in obedience to God, 
honors the official superiority of her husband. 

IV. Wives are under obligation to assist their hus- 
bands. 

The wife has her appointed sphere of action in 
guiding the house ; and, by faithful performance of her 
duty, assists the husband, on whom the chief care of 
the family devolves. When he has, by industry, pro- 
vided for the maintenance of the family, she will, by 
economy, use what he has provided to the best possible 
advantage. When he has toiled abroad during the 
day, she will welcome his return at evening, and make 
his home and fireside happy. And when sickness pros- 
trates him, or death removes him, she will assume his 



DUTIES OF PARENTS. 255 

duties with unwonted energy, and become both father 
and mother to the children of their love. 

SECTION IV. DUTIES OE PARENTS. 

I. It is the duty of parents to protect their children, 
and provide for them suitable maintenance. 

Nature teaches the obligation of parents to take care 
of their children. Under the guidance of instinct, 
irrational creatures take care of their young. A like 
instinct binds the mother to take care of her infant, 
which comes into the world the most helpless of beings. 
Few mothers are so destitute of natural affection as to 
leave their offspring to perish. The Scriptures illus- 
trate God's care of his people, by the affectionate solici- 
tude of a mother for her child : « Can a woman forget 
her sucking child, that she should not have compassion 
on the son of her womb ? yea, they may forget, yet 
will I not forget thee." 1 The parental instinct of the 
father, though less strong than that of the mother, is 
used in the Bible for the same purpose : " Like as a 
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them 
that fear him." 2 The instincts which the Author of 
nature has implanted in the breasts of both parents, 
and which are noticed in the Bible with so high com- 
mendation, point out clearly their duty to render all 
needful care to their children. The wisdom of the 
Creator has made the strength of parental instinct cor- 
respond with the absoluteness of the dependence with 
which their children hang on them for life, and all that 
renders life desirable. So strong is their claim, that 
the parent who can resist it is worse than a brute, and 
sins against nature, against reason, and against God. 

The first cries of the infant call for such offices of 

1 Isa. xlix. 15. 2 Ps. ciii. 13. 



256 FAMILY DUTIES. 

kindness as are needful to preserve its existence, and 
protect it from suffering. These wants the parents are 
under obligation to supply. As time advances, new 
wants arise, creating new demands on parental care. 
Until children attain sufficient age to provide for them- 
selves, parents are bound to spread over them the shield 
of their protection, and provide for them food, raiment, 
and habitation. 

The style of maintenance which parents are bound 
to provide for their children, should be accommodated 
to their future prospects. We scorn the miser, who, 
for the sake of hoarding up wealth, denies himself the 
comforts of life ; and equally worthy of scorn is the 
parent, who, for the sake of enriching his children here- 
after, denies them present comforts, or accustoms them 
to rough and scanty fare. But a more common and 
more injurious fault of parents, is, to accustom their 
children to too high a style of living for their prospects. 
Young persons who have been accustomed to every in- 
dulgence, are ill qualified to enter on life in poverty. 
They are not fitted to bear with contentment the hard- 
ships to which they are necessarily exposed, and to put 
forth the energies which their circumstances demand. 
They are hence subjected to temptations, which fre- 
quently prove too strong for their moral principles ; and 
their lives, begun in affluence and indulgence, terminate 
in poverty and ruin. 

II. It is the duty of parents to provide for the educa- 
tion of their children. 

A proper physical education is necessary to preserve 
health, and give vigor to both body and mind. Great 
injury is done, when children are put to employments 
in which their strength is overtasked, or necessary time 
for rest and relaxation is not allowed, or they are com- 
pelled to labor in unwholesome rooms. Health often 



DUTIES OF PARENTS. 257 

suffers by undue confinement to study. Many young 
persons, in their efforts to obtain improvement of mind, 
exhaust their health, and disqualify themselves for the 
duties and enjoyments of life. Parents ought so to 
direct the education of their children, as to guard against 
this evil. But if health ought not to be sacrificed to 
mental improvement, much less ought it to be sacrificed 
to the follies and fashions of the world. The mother 
fails sadly in duty, who permits her daughter's health to 
be impaired, by conforming to unwise fashions of 
dress ; or by injudicious exposure in attendance on fash- 
ionable amusements. A few hours of gaiety and splen- 
dor, are bought too dear, if they cost a life of disease, 
or a premature death. 

The future usefulness and happiness of children 
depend much on their intellectual education. Without 
mental improvement it is impossible for them to attain 
an elevated position in society, or exert an extensive 
beneficial influence ; and their enjoyments must be less 
refined and exquisite. To prosecute any business of 
life with success, knowledge is necessary ; and often the 
mental discipline acquired in the pursuit of knowledge, 
is even more advantageous than the knowledge itself. 

The education of children should be adapted to the 
business which they are expected to pursue. For the 
learned professions a more thorough education is neces- 
sary ; but well-cultivated minds are greatly desirable, 
even in those who cultivate the ground, or work at 
trades. Such a mind may dignify and adorn an hum- 
ble employment, and may, from a low position, diffuse 
a beneficial influence that will be a rich and lasting 
blessing to society. 

The interests of children for time and eternity, de- 
pend greatly on their moral education. To this the 
Care and efforts of parents should be incessantly directed. 
22* 



258 FAMILY DUTIES. 

To this they should have regard in the selection of a 
teacher ; but the chief labor and responsibility cannot 
be delegated to another. Parents should have regard 
to this most important duty, in all the intercourse with 
their children, and should labor, by the united influence 
of precept and example, to train them in the right way. 
They should set before them the authority of God, and 
the retributions of eternity ; and should apply to their 
opening minds the truths of religion, and the motives 
to virtue and piety. They should watch the first bud- 
dings of unholy propensities and passions, and repress 
them by the most effectual means that a wisely-directed 
parental affection can apply. The rod of correction is 
an important instrument of discipline, if judiciously 
used ; for Solomon has instructed us, " He that spareth 
his rod hateth his son." * But that parent little under- 
stands his duty who relies chiefly on the rod to effect 
the virtuous education of his children. If other methods 
of reaching the heart and conscience are judiciously 
employed, the rod will seldom be needed. 

The virtue of children depends much on the company 
they keep. If permitted to associate with the vicious, 
they will be likely to become vicious. A few lessons in 
vice from their playmates, will be sufficient to counter- 
act a long continued course of instruction in virtue. 
Parents who select the society of their children, may 
give offence to opulent and influential neighbors ; but 
it is far better to offend them, than to ruin the children. 
Association with persons of polished manners, culti- 
vated taste, and superior intelligence, is very desirable, 
if not injurious to the moral character ; but all its ad- 
vantages will not compensate for the loss of virtue. 



1 Prov. xiii. 24. 



DUTIES OP PARENTS. 259 

III. It is the duty of parents to assist their children 
in entering on the business of life. 

The choice of a business for life, and the prepara- 
tions for entering on it, are usually made while the 
child is under parental control — but after he has 
attained to sufficient age for his predilections to be con- 
sulted. In early childhood children should be governed 
with absolute authority ; but at maturity, which is, 
according to our laws, at the age of twenty-one, the 
child passes from under the authority of the parents, 
and becomes an independent man. As he approaches 
this period, he becomes more and more capable of self- 
government, and ought to become accustomed to it. 
For this reason, parental discipline, if wisely conducted, 
will undergo a gradual change, as the age of the child 
advances ; and will, as he approaches maturity, be 
exercised more by counsel, and less by authority. This 
course is especially necessary with respect to the busi- 
ness of life to be pursued after he has left parental 
authority. When it has been decided on, parents 
should, according to their means, aid the child in pre- 
paring for it, and commencing the prosecution of it. 

Wealthy parents fail in duty to their children, if they 
permit them to rely on the inheritance which they have 
in prospect, and arrive at maturity, unprepared for any 
useful employment, and with no other habits than those 
of idleness and prodigality. Poor parents, by judicious 
counsel to their children, and such aid as rigid economy 
may enable them to render, have it in their power to 
smooth the entrance on life's rugged toils. By inspir- 
ing their children with hope, and stimulating them to 
effort, they may render advantages of far greater value 
than an outset of pecuniary capital. 

IV. Parental duties require careful study, patient 



260 FAMILY DUTIES. 

labor, habitual regard to the welfare of the children, 
and constant dependence on God. 

As he who enters on any business, ought to qualify 
himself for it, so he who assumes parental obligations, 
ought to qualify himself for discharging them with 
success. It is a wise arrangement of Providence, that 
persons do not become parents until they have attained 
such age as gives hope that parental duties may be 
well performed ; but maturity of age is not the only 
qualification which is needed. The care of an immortal 
being is more important than the care of dollars and 
cents, and requires a larger amount of diligent study. 
The training of an infant man, until his powers are 
developed, and he becomes a wise, virtuous, and useful 
member of society, is an art worthy to be studied ; and 
the obligation to study it, devolves on every parent to 
whom Providence has committed the care of an infant ; 
and the study needs to be continued till the child 
reaches maturity. Few parents are able to review 
their conduct in the discipline of their children, without 
self-reproach for many failures in judgment; and hence, 
continued study is necessary, that the duty may be per- 
formed more wisely. 

Much failure in parental duty arises from mere 
neglect. The father is occupied with the business of 
his profession or trade, and the mother is encumbered 
with many household cares. Neither of them has time 
for the training of the children ; and the duty is hence 
neglected. But, in truth, the time devoted to other 
employments is first due to the children ; and the parents 
should have no time for anything else, until this more 
important duty has been performed. Nor must they 
grow weary. If past efforts have been successful, the 
objects of their care are not yet beyond the reach of 
danger ; and past success should stimulate to continued 



DUTIES OF CHILDREN. 261 

diligence. But if past efforts have been unsuccessful, 
the need is greater for redoubled energy. The causes 
of failure should be investigated ; and no labor should 
be spared, until the end has been accomplished. 

Parental duty is self-denying. The father and 
mother who regard their babe as a plaything, and in 
all their treatment of it seek only their own amuse- 
ment or gratification, have no proper sense of parental 
obligation. They should forget their own pleasure, in 
contemplating the interests of the child ; or rather, 
they should have no other pleasure than in promoting 
these interests. Forgetting themselves, the hearts of 
parents should be bound up in the welfare of their chil- 
dren. If they indulge parental partiality for one child 
above another, they seek to please themselves, at the 
expense of jealousy and discord among the children. 
Nothing should be done, nothing should be permitted, 
that can weaken the bond of brotherly love, or impair 
their sense of moral obligation. 

The hearts of children are depraved, and parental 
discipline cannot renew them. To effect this change, 
the power of the Holy Spirit is needed ; and for the 
power of the Holy Spirit to accompany their efforts, and 
render them effectual, parents ought always to pray. 
If to the diligent and persevering performance of duty, 
fervent and incessant prayer be added, they have just 
reason to expect that God will, in fulfilment of his 
promise, pour out his spirit on their seed, and his bless- 
ing on their offspring. 

SECTION V. DUTIES OF CHILDREN. 

I. It is the duty of children to love and reverence 
their parents. 

Although the instinctive love of parents for their 
children, is stronger than that of children for their 



262 FAMILY DUTIES. 

parents, yet the latter is a strong impulse of human 
nature, when not counteracted by vicious passions. 
Whatever outflowing affection proceeds from the mind 
of an infant, the mother, by whom it is nursed, becomes 
the first proper object of it; and as reason unfolds, 
and the nature of the parental relation begins to be in 
part apprehended, the filial affections are brought into 
more perceptible exercise, and the father receives his 
share. 

A sense of dependence and inferiority mingles with 
the exercise of filial love, converting it into reverence. 
To the child, the parents, however humble their condi- 
tion of life, are great, and towards them he first exer- 
cises reverential submission. This filial respect, in its 
highest degree, the God of heaven claims of all man- 
kind as his offspring. " If then I be a father, where is 
mine honor?" 1 "We have had fathers of our flesh 
which corrected us, and we gave them reverence : 
shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father 
of spirits V ' 2 From the language of these texts, we may 
learn the nature of the respect due from children to their 
parents; and the importance of the duty may be in- 
ferred from the fact, that it is made the subject of a 
special command in the decalogue, and the only com- 
mand to which a promise is affixed. " Honor thy father 
and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the 
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." 3 

Filial piety should be continued and cherished 
throughout life. It is beautiful and fragrant as the 
flowers of spring, when it flows from youthful hearts 
towards parents in the vigor of life ; but it resembles 
the ripened fruits of autumn, and possesses its highest 
value, when it is exercised by children of mature years 

1 Mai. i. 6. 2 Heb. xii. 9. 3 Ex. xx. 12. 



DUTIES OF CHILDREN. 263 

towards parents bending under the weight of age, and 
oppressed with infirmities. Such filial piety appeared 
so lovely to the view of the heathen poet Virgil, that 
he made it the chief ornament in the character of his 
hero iEneas. 

II. It is the duty of children to obey their parents. 

The obligation of the parents to train their children 
aright, requires the right to command ; and this implies 
the obligation of the children to obey. The inestimable 
benefits of well-regulated family discipline depend on 
the obedience of children, and would be lost to mankind 
if the obligation to filial obedience were annihilated. 
Anarchy, nourished at the domestic hearth, would come 
forth in strength from the door of every habitation, 
to desolate society, and fill the world with crime and 
misery. 

The duty of children to obey their parents is ex- 
pressly and frequently enjoined in the Holy Scriptures. 

The authority of parents is subordinate to the autho- 
rity of God. Hence, if parents command what God 
forbids, their command is not obligatory. This limita- 
tion of parental authority is implied in the precept, 
" Obey your parents in the Lord." 1 But a conscien- 
tious rejection of parental authority requires more 
knowledge of duty to God than young children possess. 
As children approach to maturity, parental commands 
should become counsels, in cases which affect the con- 
science ; and children should respect the counsels of 
parents, if not inconsistent with their duty to God. 
Though the authority of God may, in some possible 
case, require a child to disobey his parents, it requires 
still that he should love and reverence them in the very 
act of disobeying ; and a proper exhibition of filial re- 

1 Eph. vi. 1. 



264 FAMILY DUTIES. 

spect, in such trying circumstances, will accomplish 
much towards correcting the erroneous judgment of the 
parents. The obligation of children to obey their pa- 
rents ceases at maturity, the time of which our laws 
have fixed at the age of twenty-one years. If they 
remain after this age, in a state of dependence on their 
parents, the obligation to obey continues. A dutiful 
child, even at mature age, and in independent circum- 
stances, will respect the counsel and wishes of his 
parents, and will avoid, as far as possible, whatever 
may give them pain. 

III. It is the duty of children, if necessary, to main- 
tain their parents, if rendered helpless by sickness or 
age. 

This obligation is a natural and spontaneous dictate 
of filial aifection. Children are without natural affec- 
tion if they permit their aged and infirm parents to 
suffer, and do not exert their best efforts to relieve 
them. Such efforts are but the return which mere 
justice requires, for the care and support received in 
infancy. Parental care and toil bestowed on children 
through years of helplessness, are ill requited by subse- 
quent filial neglect, which adds anguish to sufferings 
that call for sympathy and relief; and such neglect de- 
serves and provokes the wrath of Heaven. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
PUBLIC DUTIES. 



SECTION I. PUBLIC SPIRIT. 

Public spirit is a disposition to promote the welfare 
of the community. The tendency of human depravity 
is for every one to seek his own, and not another's 
welfare ; but, in opposition to this tendency, the divine 
precept requires men to love their neighbors as them- 
selves. He who obeys this precept, seeks the general 
good of the community in which he dwells. Instead 
of being absorbed in his private affairs, and wholly 
intent on the advancement of his own interests, or those 
of his own family, he looks abroad into society, and 
strives to promote the well-being of all to whom his 
efforts can reach. This is the man of public spirit. 

A man of public spirit will be inclined to invite the 
co-operation of others, both that they may be well em- 
ployed, and that his philanthropic designs may be the 
more successfully prosecuted. Hence, he is inclined 
to promote voluntary associations for benevolent pur- 
poses ; to assist in the establishment of schools and 
charitable institutions ; to devise and adopt measures 
for improving public morals, and extending the benign 
influence of religion. This man readily takes his 
place in every form of society which aims at the general 
good. 

23 (265) 



266 PUBLIC DUTIES. 



SECTION II. PROFESSIONAL DUTIES. 

Every man is under obligation to do good to the 
community in which he lives. Every merchant, every 
mechanic, every cultivator of the soil, is bound to pur- 
sue his business with a view to the public good, and not 
merely for personal profit. He is a public servant, and 
the duties of his calling are, to some extent, public 
duties ; but there is a special propriety in so regarding 
the duties of those who follow the learned professions. 
The men who serve the public by selling goods, build- 
ing houses, or raising wheat, perform work of which 
men generally are competent judges ; and therefore no 
high degree of trust is reposed in them. But the case 
is different with men of the learned professions. The 
services which they propose to render to mankind, 
relate to interests of great importance ; and for the 
proper performance of them, knowledge and fidelity are 
needed which few men are capable of duly estimating. 
Hence they who offer their services in these professions, 
ask the public confidence, and bind themselves to the 
public under obligations which they ought carefully to 
study. 

Preacher. 

Men who devote themselves to the ministry of the 
gospel, claim to be distinguished from the rest of man- 
kind, by a special call from Heaven, requiring them to 
perform the holy service. They are therefore bound 
to obey God in all things. Whether the world praise 
or blame, smile or frown, bless or persecute, their duty 
is so to fulfil the ministry which God has committed 
to them, as to secure his approbation. 

The ministry of the gospel aims to promote the spir- 
itual and eternal interests of mankind. The tradesman 



PROFESSIONAL DUTIES. 267 

is criminal, who pursues his business without regard to 
the public good ; but far more criminal is he, who min- 
isters in holy things, not to save the souls of men, but 
to secure to himself worldly gain or popular applause. 
Such a man dishonors the service of God, and deserves 
the malediction of the Almighty. In the gospel minis- 
try, as in every other service, the laborer is worthy of 
his hire. Every minister is justified in receiving a main- 
tenance from those to whom he ministers ; and they are 
bound to give it ; but if this is the end for which he 
labors, he prostitutes his holy calling, and stains his 
garments with the blood of immortal souls. 

He who preaches the gospel, ought to understand 
well the message which he is to deliver from God to 
men. The highest attainments in learning may be made 
subservient to the ministry of the word ; but no attain- 
ments, without a knowledge of Bible truth, can render 
a man wise to win souls. And the knowledge of divine 
truth must not be theoretical merely. It must dwell in 
the heart with sanctifying power, and move the soul to 
reverence for the authority of God, delight in obeying 
him, and zealous consecration to his service. 

When the heart is under the sanctifying power of 
divine truth, a necessary effect will be holiness of exter- 
nal conduct ; and without this a minister of the gospel 
may not hope to succeed in his work. However pure 
may be the doctrine which he preaches, an unholy life 
will nullify its power. Who will believe what the 
preacher says, when his life shows that he himself does 
not believe it ? Who will be excited to flee from dan- 
ger, when he who sounds the alarm, makes no effort to 
escape ? The man who desires to save souls, must not 
only urge them to flee from the wrath to come, but must 
lead their flight ; and, by example as well as precept, 
direct their steps in the way of holiness and eternal 



268 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

life. Of every virtue, the minister of the gospel ought 
to exhibit an illustrious example. 

The ministry of the gospel requires untiring energy. 
How incessant were the toils of Christ ! Day after day 
he preached to crowds that pressed on him to hear the 
word ; and, when night gave rest to others, he often re- 
tired to some lonely place for prayer. His example 
shames lazy ministers, and demonstrates their unfitness 
for the sacred office. Paul labored abundantly in his 
holy calling, and left an example which ministers of 
Christ cannot imitate, without employing all their ener- 
gies to save men, and spread the triumphs of the gospel. 
A minister must not wait for opportunities of doing good 
to present themselves — but must seek them. He must 
watch for souls, and strive by every means in his power 
to rescue them from sin and danger, and allure them 
into the way of righteousness and salvation. 

The duties of the ministry require great firmness. 
No compromise must be made with error and sin. If 
unwelcome truths are inculcated, and popular sins 
opposed, the preacher may bring upon himself the dis- 
pleasure of those whom worldly policy would incline 
him to please. But he must not shun to declare the 
whole counsel of God, at every hazard. He is a servant 
of God, and to God he must render his account ; it is, 
therefore, a matter of little moment, whether men are 
pleased or displeased. Moreover, to please men — unless 
it be for their good unto edification — is a hindrance of 
the work in which he is engaged, and tends to ruin 
those whom he should labor to save. The minister has 
a fearful account to render, who, rather than offend 
men, leaves them to perish in their sins, and drag 
others with them to destruction. 

The minister's work is one of benevolence. His 
purity must not shun contact with the impure, if he may 



PROFESSIONAL DUTIES. 269 

apply to them the means of cleansing. His energy is 
not inconsistent- with the utmost gentleness in the treat- 
ment of the weak and fearful. His firmness admits 
full scope for patience in instructing the ignorant, win- 
ning the froward, and subduing opposers. The high 
dignity of the ministerial office is not inconsistent with 
condescension to men of low estate ; but the nature and 
design of the oifice require that the gospel should be 
preached to the poor, its benefits conveyed to the 
afflicted, and its cheering light from heaven brought 
into the dark chamber of the dying. Among the sons 
and daughters of poverty and wretchedness, the minister 
of Jesus may tread in the footsteps of his divine Master, 
and may find his best work where there is least room 
for the intrusion of worldly motives. 

Physician. 

The physician offers his services to the public, for the 
removal or prevention of disease. The preacher directs 
his care to the soul and its eternal interests ; the phy- 
sician directs his to the body and the preservation of 
life and health. These are the highest interests of man 
relating to the present world ; for all means of earthly 
enjoyment are of little avail to him who is deprived of 
health ; and they are all necessarily relinquished for 
ever at death. But the preservation of life and health 
is important, as a means of usefulness to mankind, and 
of preparation for the world to come. Hence, the office 
of the physician is next in importance and responsibility 
to that of the gospel minister. 

He who serves God in the ministry of the gospel, 
obeys a special divine call which obliges him to the 
service. The physician is not so distinguished from the 
rest of mankind ; but the office which he holds, has the 
approbation of God ; and the service which he renders, 
23* 



270 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

if rendered aright, will be accepted and blessed. The 
evangelist Luke, the companion of Paul, is called in 
the Holy Scriptures, "the beloved physician;" 1 and 
Christ referred to the office of the physician as useful 
and necessary, in the words, " They that be whole 
need not a physician ; but they that are sick." 2 King 
Asa erred, when, in his disease, he sought to the 
physicians, and not to the Lord. 3 His dependence 
and hope were restricted to the human agency which 
he employed, and not accompanied with pious acknow- 
ledgment of God, without whose blessing medical skill 
and effort are useless. God's disapprobation of the 
king's conduct teaches us to regard physicians merely 
as instruments and agents of Divine Providence ; and 
it teaches physicians to perform their service in this 
character, if they desire success in their labors, and the 
blessing of him in whose hand are the life and breath 
of all their patients. 

The physician professes superior skill in the healing 
art ; and, if he does not possess it, he deceives his em- 
ployers. If a man wholly ignorant of the steam-engine, 
should undertake the management of one to which is 
attached a train of cars filled with passengers, we should 
hold him responsible for all the loss of life ensuing from 
his misconduct. Equally responsible is the ignorant 
quack, who tampers with the life and health of those 
whom his false pretences deceive. He is guilty of 
fraud, in taking reward for services which possess no 
value ; and of still greater crime, in risking or destroy- 
ing the lives intrusted to him, or causing them to be 
lost, by preventing the attentions of those by whose 
skill they might have been preserved. 

Before he enters on the practice of his profession, a 

1 Col. iv. 14. 2 Matt. ix. 12. 3 2 Chr. xvi. 12. 



PROFESSIONAL DUTIES. 271 

physician ought to acquire the knowledge which he 
needs, by a preparatory course of laborious and thorough 
study. He will be called to prescribe for cases which 
demand prompt attention, and which must be provided 
for by previous study. He cannot even study to ad- 
vantage the cases which arise in his practice, without a 
previous general knowledge of medical science. And 
this knowledge cannot be acquired from books only. 
He should become acquainted with the appearance of 
diseases, under the instruction of a skilful practitioner ; 
and should acquire a habit of scrutinizing observation, 
on which his judgment and skill will greatly depend, 
and without which he will not derive from experience 
the advantages that it is capable of yielding. Long 
experience ought to increase his skill ; and to this end 
diligent study and scrutinizing observation ought to 
continue through the whole course of his professional 
labors. 

The importance of the interests intrusted to a physi- 
cian renders fidelity on his part an indispensable duty. 
All the assiduity and self-denying effort which any case 
may require should be promptly and perseveringly ren- 
dered, as if the life under his care were that of his best 
friend, or as if it w 7 ere his own. He should never per- 
mit himself to measure his obligation by the hope of 
pecuniary reward. The profession has been honored 
by the amount of its charitable service to the poor ; and 
an old master of the art expressed a sentiment worthy 
to be adopted by all his successors : — » My poor patients 
are my best patients ; because God is their pay-master." 

A physician may expect, in the course of his practice, 
to meet with cases which will embarrass him. A disease 
will sometimes present symptoms which are not suffi- 
ciently decisive of its true character to enable him to 
judge of it with confidence. He may be satisfied that 



272 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

the usual remedies will fail in a particular case, and 
may be driven to the inquiry, whether some newly- 
recommended remedy, of which he has not sufficient 
knowledge, ought not to be tried. Such embarrassing 
cases as these will arise ; and the possibility of them 
makes it incumbent on him to be familiar with every 
department of medical science, and to keep up with its 
progress of improvement. But when, notwithstanding 
his utmost efforts, such embarrassments are encountered, 
he should seek relief in consultation with some physician 
of superior skill. 

Physicians may render valuable service to the public, 
by recommending to corporations or individuals such 
sanitary regulations as may be necessary for the pre- 
vention of disease. This public benefit they should 
never be backward to confer. 

In epidemics physicians ought never to abandon their 
practice because of personal danger. As well might a 
soldier, who has kept his place during a peaceful march, 
desert when battle comes. The greater the danger the 
louder the call for service, and the stronger the obliga- 
tion to render it. 

Persons who are busily engaged in the practice of 
medicine, often find it impossible so to command their 
time as to attend the public worship of God on the sab- 
bath. To this cause some have attributed the tendency 
to skepticism, with which the profession has been 
charged : but the charge is perhaps groundless. The 
profession has furnished eminent examples of piety ; 
and the unfavorable influence of occasional absence from 
the services of the sanctuary, may be counteracted by 
the constant remembrance of death kept ever present 
to the mind by the whole course of a physician's duties. 
But, that his visits to the bed of affliction and the house 
of mourning may have the best effect on his piety, he 



PROFESSIONAL DUTIES. 273 

ought to accustom himself to converse with his patients 
on their spiritual interests, and to embrace every favor- 
able opportunity of being useful to their souls as well 
as to their bodies. When he cannot receive religious 
instruction in the house of God on the Sabbath, he may 
impart it in the chamber of disease ; and his experience 
may verify the saying of Christ, " It is more blessed 
to give than to receive." But because he must some- 
times be absent from public worship, he ought, with 
scrupulous conscience, to be present whenever possible, 
even though it may be attended with inconvenience. 
He will thus avoid a habit of injurious tendency, and 
cultivate in himself a love of devotion. 

Lawyer. 

The lawyer offers his services, to secure the rights of 
those who employ him. His appeal is to the laws of 
the country ; and therefore he ought to be well acquainted 
with these laws, and with the modes of investigation 
adopted in the courts. He is under obligation to be 
faithful to his clients, and to manage the cases com- 
mitted to him, with as much care and industry as if the 
interests at stake were his own. 

The prospect of gain may sometimes tempt a lawyer 
to encourage litigation ; but against this temptation he 
ought to guard most sedulously. As a physician would 
be criminal, who should generate a pestilence that he 
may find profitable employment ; so is the lawyer crimi- 
nal, who encourages lawsuits that he may obtain fees. 
He is unfaithful to his clients, who involves them in con- 
troversies, which it would be better for them to avoid, 
and which it would be in his power to prevent. A con- 
scientious lawyer may accomplish much in promoting 
the harmony of a community ; and he ought to employ 
his professional skill for the public good. 



274 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

The legal profession, as well as the medical and the 
clerical, may render valuable charity to the poor. Ad- 
vantage is often taken of the weak and defenceless ; 
and their rights are trampled under foot, because they 
are unable to employ an advocate, and bear the expense 
of a lawsuit. • Such cases a generous man of the legal 
profession will not overlook ; but will consider it an 
honor and a pleasure, to defend the poor man in his 
rights, with the hope of no other reward than the 
approbation of God and his own conscience. 

Much difficulty may be experienced by a conscien- 
tious advocate, in managing a case in which his client 
is in the wrong. For the sake of professional reputa- 
tion, he desires to succeed ; and yet it may be impossible 
to succeed, without adopting means of doubtful pro- 
priety. Neither fidelity to a client, nor regard to repu- 
tation, can justify any criminal act ; such as the bribing 
of jurors, the suborning of witnesses, or the utterance 
of falsehood. Though a client may be in the wrong, 
his advocate may, with good conscience, claim for him 
the advantage of reasonable doubt arising from defi- 
ciency of testimony ; for this the law and the general 
interests of society allow. He may also plead every 
fact which will extenuate his client's wrong, and lessen 
the severity of an unfavorable judgment. But no law- 
yer ought to undertake any cause, in which he has rea- 
son to suppose that he will be expected to do anything 
contrary to pure morality. The profession does not 
require a man to be wicked ; if it did, it ought to be 
abandoned. Though it may be justifiable to defend a 
client who is in the wrong, it is scarcely possible to 
conceive a case in which it will be right to aid a plain- 
tiff who is seeking injustice. 

To receive fees from both of the parties in a lawsuit, 
is a dishonesty so gross, that few men are base enough 



PROFESSIONAL DUTIES. 275 

to perpetrate it. But the lawyer is scarcely less repre- 
hensible, who engages in a cause, when there exists 
between him and the party whom it will be his duty to 
oppose, some relation that may tend to abate the zeal 
of his opposition. The existence of this relation he 
ought at least to make known to his client, and any 
other fact which might, in the client's judgment, be an 
obstacle to his being employed. 

Fidelity to a client requires that, in undertaking his 
cause, the counsel should express an honest opinion of 
its merit. Nothing should be said to excite a vain hope 
of success ; or to foster any sinful passion. The coun- 
sellor is in part the keeper of his client's conscience ; 
and should study to prevent him from doing wrong. To 
induce or permit a client to make false affidavits in the 
management of his cause, is highly criminal. Unin- 
formed and inconsiderate clients need to be guarded on 
this point ; and an honest counsellor will seek to pre- 
serve them from the guilt of perjury. 

A lawyer is bound to be faithful, not to his client 
only, but also to the court. He is, to some extent, an 
officer of the court ; and is under obligation so to exer- 
cise his office, that the fountains of justice shall not 
be corrupted. He should discountenance every attempt 
to operate on the judge or jury, so as to pervert judg- 
ment ; and should decline to take advantage of incaution 
or oversight in the opposing party, unless it be merely 
to defeat them in doing wrong. He should, for the 
reputation of the court, as well as for his own sake, 
treat the judge, the jury, the witnesses, and the opposing 
counsel, with respect ; and he should never degrade his 
office by venting bitter words to gratify his client. 

The undertaking of suits for fees contingent on suc- 
cess, has been thought objectionable, because it places 
the advocate in a relation to the court different from 



276 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

that which he properly sustains ; and because, as is 
alleged, it tends to promote litigation and corruption. 
But were the practice prohibited, poor men, who have 
not means in present possession for employing an 
attorney, would in many cases be hindered from reco- 
vering their rights. The objection, however, is so far 
entitled to respect, that, when this mode of compensa- 
tion is proposed, a conscientious practitioner will do 
well to examine carefully whether there are not other 
considerations which ought to prevent him from under- 
taking the case. An engagement to share in the 
expense of maintaining the suit is a violation of law. 

In every employment, considerations of interest fre- 
quently tempt men to disregard the suggestions of con- 
science. The young practitioner may fear that, if more 
scrupulous in the acceptance of cases than his fellows 
at the bar, he will not obtain his proper share of busi- 
ness ; but let him maintain a high-toned morality in 
everything that he does, and he will find in the end 
that honesty is the best policy. Let him exhibit all 
due fidelity to the court and to his clients, study his 
cases thoroughly, be systematic in all his arrangements, 
and always ready for the necessary action. He will 
by these means establish to himself, among the members 
of the profession, a reputation which will soon be known 
by the public ; and he will find himself occupying a 
position that will command business. 

Men of the legal profession have an opportunity of 
seeing human nature in its corruption. Avarice, cun- 
ning, treachery, dishonesty, cruelty, malignity, revenge, 
and every foul passion of the heart, are brought to 
light in the investigations of the courts. The frequent 
view of crime tends to lessen the sense of its odiousness ; 
and the lawyer ought, therefore, to watch against this 
influence, and preserve in his heart the love of virtue 



PROFESSIONAL DUTIES. 277 

and hatred of vice. And there is, in the profession, 
another tendency against which he should guard. His 
whole employment relates to things of the present life. 
All the struggle of litigants is for earthly good ; and, 
of all the victories obtained in courts, not one apper- 
tains to the future world. Hence, the business of his 
profession leads to forgetfulness of eternal interests. 
Let him, therefore, habituate himself to pious thought 
and reflection in all the turmoil of his duties. When 
he enters an earthly court, let him remember the last 
tribunal ; and when contending for right before an 
earthly judge, let him not forget the Judge Supreme, 
to whom he must give his final account, and by whose 
righteous decision his eternal state will be determined. 

Teacher. 

Theology, medicine, and law, are sciences not in- 
cluded in the ordinary course of instruction for which 
our schools and colleges provide. To qualify for the 
employment of teaching, the study of a distinct science 
is not requisite ; and, therefore, the propriety of classing 
teachers with men of the learned professions, has been 
doubted : but, however they may be ranked, they con- 
stitute a very useful class of public servants, and are 
intrusted with very important responsibilities, in the 
proper discharge of which peculiar skill is requisite. 

He who undertakes to become an instructor of youth, 
ought to possess adequate knowledge of whatever he 
professes to teach. He ought, moreover, to have 
studied well the art of imparting instruction. Great 
improvements have been made in the organization and 
government of schools, and in the modes of teaching, 
and of exciting to diligence in study. With all these 
improvements every teacher ought to make himself 
familiar. 
24 



278 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

The school occupies an intermediate place between 
the family and civil society. The teacher should use 
his best efforts to prepare his pupils to enter advan- 
tageously on the duties of life ; and, for this purpose, it 
is not enough that he merely instruct them in literature 
and science. Virtue is as necessary to the school as 
to the family and civil society; and the school in which 
lessons of virtue are not inculcated, fails in a most im- 
portant duty. 

In governing, a teacher should be firm, and always 
self-possessed. Anger and bluster annihilate good 
discipline. A wise administrator seldom has occasion 
for severity. The harsh discipline of former generations 
has deservedly become unfashionable ; and experience 
has demonstrated that kindness and sincere interest in 
the pupil's welfare secure the best possible control over 
him, and far surpass brute force in governing his pas- 
sions, and making him virtuous. 

The teacher's employment gives him opportunity to 
enjoy the luxury of charity. To many an indigent 
youth a good education is the greatest benefit that he 
can receive from men ; and this benefit a teacher has the 
means of bestowing! In some humble cottage he may 
find unpolished genius which his kindness may draw 
forth from obscurity, and convert into an ornament of 
society and a blessing to mankind. 

SECTION III. CIVIL SOCIETY. 

Civil society is a combination of men for the purpose 
of mutual protection by means of civil government. 
The necessity for it arises from human depravity. Were 
men perfectly virtuous, they might live happily in 
natural society, without the restraints of civil govern- 
ment. Every one would respect the rights of his 
neighbors, and, in the spirit of philanthropy, seek the 



CIVIL SOCIETY. 279 

general good. Whatever co-operation might be neces- 
sary to promote the welfare of the community would be 
effected by voluntary association ; and the efforts which 
might be necessary would be prompted by the spirit of 
benevolence. 

But human depravity has rendered it impossible for 
men to live happily together in the state of natural 
society. The passions and propensities of vicious men 
need to be restrained for the protection of life and pro- 
perty. To accomplish the purpose civil government is 
instituted, and civil society is a combination of men 
sustaining some form of civil government for their own 
benefit. Its chief design is mutual protection ; but it 
may accomplish other good incidentally, as by the en- 
couragement of learning and the advancement of the 
arts, necessary to a state of civilization. 

The first form of civil society was patriarchal. The 
father was the natural protector of his children. In 
the protection of the family, he was under obligation to 
employ his own strength, and had the right to command 
the aid of his children according to their strength. 
The employment of children in this service is manifestly 
alluded to in the words of Scripture : « As arrows are 
in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of the 
youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of 
the'm ; they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak 
with the enemies in the gate." 1 This allusion takes us 
back to the early period in the history of mankind, 
when the family constituted the civil society, and the 
father was the civil governor. 

A second form of civil society embraced a tribe de- 
scended from one ancestor. After the daath of the 
father, the oldest brother succeeded to his authority, 



Ps. 



280 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

and governed the family. Whole tribes remained 
through successive generations combined in one society 
under one government ; and originally the authority to 
govern was transmitted by natural descent. But in 
various cases superior strength or superior skill pre- 
vailed over primogeniture, and elevated to authority a 
rival of the natural claimant. Alliances, conquests, or 
other causes frequently united two or more tribes under 
one government, and civil societies became enlarged 
into the nations which now divide the population of the 
globe. 

While the patriarchal form of civil society continued, 
the right of membership was determined by natural 
descent. The inheritance might be taken away by 
injustice; but, unless forfeited by crime, it was the 
right of every descendant from the patriarchal ancestor. 
It was the exclusive right of the descendants, and no 
alien could claim it. The present forms of civil society 
so far retain the patriarchal features, that membership 
is universally transmitted by descent, and in many 
nations men of an alien race are found who are not 
admitted to membership as children of the family. 

We have before proved it to be the will of God, that 
men should live in society ; and we shall hereafter 
prove that civil government is an ordinance of God. 
But it cannot be proved that the whole human race 
should be united under one civil government ; or that 
the boundaries or forms of the several governments are 
determined by the divine will, irrespective of human 
judgment and choice. The patriarchal features, being 
natural, exhibit the best claim to divine authority; and 
so far as this natural order becomes modified by human 
judgment and choice, this judgment and choice ought 
to be directed to the best possible accomplishment of 
the ends for which civil society exists. 



CIVIL SOCIETY. 281 

Since civil society is a combination of individuals 
for the purpose of mutual protection, the rights and 
duties of the parties are to be determined by the design 
of the combination. Society is under obligation to 
protect the rights of the individual members, similar 
to that which binds a father to protect his children ; 
and society has a right to command the persons and 
property of the individual members, for the accomplish- 
ment of this object, as a father has a right to command 
the services of the children, according to their strength, 
for the protection of the family. Civil society is not, 
like simple society, formed by voluntary compact ; but 
its obligations are not on that account the less sacred. 
So far as they depend on human judgment and choice, 
they have the sacredness of a contract ; and beyond 
these limits, they have the higher sanction of the 
divine will. 

The duties of reciprocity imply corresponding rights 
in the parties ; and therefore fall under the government 
of civil society. The duties of benevolence do not 
imply a perfect right in the beneficiary ; and because 
there is no right for society to protect, society cannot 
regulate the benefaction. On the same principle, reli- 
gious duties are beyond the reach of society ; and, in 
general, society has not its full power over the persons 
or property of individuals, except so far as may be 
necessary to protect the rights of all. 

Society has a right to punish crime as a means of 
preventing its repetition. That it may continue to 
protect the rights of individuals, it has a right to pro- 
tect itself from dissolution ; and therefore to suppress 
insurrections and mobs which oppose the authority of 
government. 

As the obligation, so the right to protect individuals 
belongs to civil society. He who claims the right to 
24* 



282 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

redress his own wrongs, violates his obligation to 
society, refuses to be a member of it, and establishes 
in principle the government of a mob. Secret societies 
which place their members beyond the reach of the 
law, and substitute a different form of government over 
them, violate the obligations which they owe to civil 
society. 

The civil societies into which mankind are divided, are 
severally bound to protect their own members, not only 
from vicious men of their own community, but also 
from every other community. Hence the separate 
communities, acting as independent bodies, are liable 
to have the relations between them disturbed, and to 
become hostile to each other. Each community, there- 
fore, needs power, not only to keep under control its 
own members, but also to repel attacks from other com- 
munities. It must have power commensurate with its 
responsibility. Such power no other form of society 
possesses. 

The power of civil society is liable to be abused. 
Instead of being employed for the protection of rights, 
it has often been used for purposes of ambition and 
oppression. On this account, a people jealous of 
their rights will be watchful lest the power of their 
government be misdirected. 

Civil society is not instituted for the purpose of pro- 
moting the greatest good of the community in every 
possible way. Were this its responsibility, it would 
have the right to command the services of every indi- 
vidual for the accomplishment of its object; and duties 
of benevolence and religion would be equally under its 
control, with duties of reciprocity. No place would be 
left for the exercise of public spirit by individuals or 
voluntary societies ; and no place for diversity of reli- 
gious opinion, or rights of conscience ; but the one 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 283 

judgment of society would direct all, and the one power 
of society would control all. Not an act could be per- 
formed by any individual, which would not have some 
sort of relation to the public good ; and, therefore, every 
act would come under the control of the governing 
power. To guard against this violation of rights, the 
power of government should be chiefly confined to its 
proper object, which is not the promotion of the greatest 
possible good, but the protection of rights. 

There are, we admit, cases in which the power of civil 
society may be advantageously exercised out of its 
peculiar limits. The resources of a state, for example, 
may be usefully employed in works of internal improve- 
ment. Here the object is the public good, and not the 
mere protection of rights. But, in every such case, 
the specific object should be one which fully commends 
itself to the general appprobation of the community. 
It is as if the society acted in a new capacity ; and it 
ought, therefore, to possess the character of a voluntary 
association. On this principle public schools may be 
established and supported by the state ; but, though 
religion is even more necessary to the public good than 
education, it is not right that it should be under the 
control of civil authority. Unanimity of religious 
opinion does not exist ; and, if it did exist, the nature 
of religious service requires that it should be in the 
highest degree voluntary. 

SECTION IV. CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

A company of men who have the same object in 
view, may proceed to accomplish it by the efforts of the 
several individuals, directed each by his own will ; but 
a slight difference of judgment as to the best mode of 
prosecuting the object, may prevent efficient co-opera- 
tion, and cause them to fail of their purpose. Hence, 



284 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

for the sake of efficiency, societies are organized, that 
they may act as one body, having the combined energy 
of the individual members directed as by one will. 

Various modes of social organization are possible ; 
but, in general, officers are appointed, who, as agents 
for the society, are to perform its work. For this pur- 
pose, they are invested with suitable powers, and have 
specified duties assigned to them. Such agents exist in 
civil society ; and these, acting in their proper offices, 
and with their proper powers, constitute its government. 

The offices of civil government are divided into legis- 
lative, judiciary, and executive. The first are ap- 
pointed to make the laws of the state, and affix the 
penalty for violation ; the second, to judge when viola- 
tion has been committed ; and the third, to inflict the 
penalty, or otherwise carry the laws into effect. These 
several services may be performed by a single indi- 
vidual, or a single class of officers ; but, in the most 
improved forms of government, they are committed to 
distinct classes of men, who act independently of each 
other, and are agents directly responsible to society for 
the right exercise of the power committed to them. 

The forms of civil government are various ; and it 
cannot be affirmed that any one of them is universally 
preferable to all the rest. In the patriarchal state of 
society, the father of the family, or head of the tribe, 
was its monarch, invested with legislative, judiciary, and 
executive power. This form of government is best 
adapted to rude men, who, because of deficiency in in- 
telligence and virtue, need to be governed by fear. In 
an improved state of society, when men generally know 
their duty, and are disposed to perform it without com- 
pulsion, it becomes less necessary that men should be 
driven to obey by fear. To such persons a milder form 
of government is better adapted. In every case, that 



CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 285 

form of government is best which is best adapted to the 
character of the people. 

Civil government is an ordinance of God, though no 
particular form of it has special divine authority. A 
wise man would choose to submit to it in its worst 
known form, rather than have his rights wholly unpro- 
tected ; and what human wisdom finds to be indis- 
pensable to the existence and happiness of society, the 
divine wisdom by which society was instituted, must 
have intended. The ordinance may be perverted or 
abused ; but it is, nevertheless, an ordinance of God. 
The Scriptures require subjection to civil rulers on the 
ground that they are ministers ordained of God. 1 

Should be Just. 

In a former place it was said : " Distributive Justice 
belongs to government, and is concerned in dividing out 
to the several members of society their proper extent 
of rights ; and also in subsequently varying that extent 
by rewards and punishments." God, who gives men 
their enjoyments, distributes them as he pleases, and 
society, in adopting regulations which determine the 
rights of its members, is an agent of Providence, bound 
to act according to the will of God, the rule of justice. 
The natural endowments of men, physical and intellec- 
tual, differ greatly ; and the opportunities which his 
providence affords for obtaining enjoyment, are much 
greater to some men than to others. If human govern- 
ments should attempt to make the rights of all men 
equal in extent, they would oppose the manifest will 
of the Creator ; and any equalization which could be 
effected, would not continue a single day, unless the 
natural endowments of men were made equal. Human 

1 Rom. xiii. 1. 



286 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

governments, domestic, civil, and ecclesiastical, are 
bound to conform to the divine will, the supreme rule 
of right. We know that a general regard to human 
happiness is according to the divine will ; and govern- 
ments are therefore bound to seek the happiness of the 
governed. Where the means of attaining this end are 
not pointed out by the word or providence of God, 
governments, in their proper sphere of action, should 
be so instituted and administered by human wisdom as 
to secure the general good. A privation of some soli- 
tudal rights is indispensable in the formation of society ; 
but these rights should be held sacred, except so far as 
the abridgment of them becomes necessary to the good 
of society ; and an abridgment of them to this extent, 
must be according to the will of God, who has formed 
man a social being, and brought him into the world in 
the midst of society. 

It is not necessary to the justice of social regulations, 
that they have the universal consent of those who are 
governed by them. Men are, for the most part, born 
into society previously organized ; and they are bound 
by its regulations, before their consent can be asked. 
The poor man may never consent to the distribution of 
property, which denies him the use of his neighbor's 
wealth, but he is nevertheless bound to observe it. No 
man has a right to steal from his neighbor, because he 
has not yielded his formal consent to the existing dis- 
tribution of property. The social regulations under 
which each one is born, are to him the will of God, 
when they do not interfere with his duty to God. He 
is required to obey " every ordinance of man for the 
Lord's sake," 1 whether he consents to the duty or 
not ; and the requirement is approved by the moral 

1 1 Pet. ii. 13. 



LIBERTY. 287 

judgments of men generally. So the regulations of 
civil society, if wise and good, may be expected to 
receive the general approbation of those who are 
governed by them ; because they tend to the general 
welfare. In society, in lieu of solitudal rights, other 
rights are enjoyed, which a just government will aim 
to make equivalent. In exchanging commodities, it is 
not enough that an equivalent should be given for what 
is received, but the consent of both parties is required. 
But, in organizing a government, it is impracticable to 
obtain the consent of all who will be subject to it. Our 
forefathers in the Declaration of Independence, main- 
tained the doctrine, that a just government derives its 
power from the consent of the governed. This, in a 
general view of it, is true. If a government has not 
the general approbation of the governed, either they 
lack intelligence, or it needs reform. But the justice 
of social arrangements cannot be dependent on the 
approbation of the vicious or ignorant. 

SECTION V. LIBERTY. 

Government and liberty conflict with each other. 
Government implies restraint, liberty is the absence of 
restraint. A man may be said to act with perfect 
liberty, when he does what he pleases, restrained by 
nothing but the laws of nature. Such liberty rightfully 
belongs to no one, except in solitude, or in a society of 
perfect intelligence and virtue. In solitude, where 
there can be no government, and in a society of perfect 
intelligence and virtue where no government is needed, 
unrestricted liberty is the natural right of man. In 
solitude, he may do what he pleases, accountable to 
God only ; and the members of a perfect society may 
do what they please, because they please to do what is 
right. But, in all other circumstances, the only liberty 



288 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

which a man can rightfully claim, is that which is left 
to him by the necessary restrictions of just govern- 
ment. 

In a state of society, no one has an unrestricted 
enjoyment of the earth's productions; and other limita- 
tions of solitudal rights become indispensable. The 
highest social liberty is enjoyed, where the restrictions 
of enjoyments are fewest and least important. Were 
all men perfectly virtuous, the necessary restrictions 
would be submitted to voluntarily, and governors would 
not need to be invested with compulsory power. The 
only use of government would be, to determine, by the 
best intelligence of the society, the proper adjustment of 
rights among the members of the social compact. If 
every individual possessed perfect intelligence as well 
as perfect virtue, the best possible adjustment of rights 
would be obvious to all, and every one would spontane- 
ously conform to it. In this case, government would 
be wholly unnecessary, and the highest imaginable 
freedom, consistent with the social state, would be 
enjoyed. Civil liberty consists in the nearest practi- 
cable approach to perfect social freedom ; and the 
degree of it necessarily depends on the intelligence 
and virtue of the people. 

Civil government is an ordinance of God ; and that 
form of it which is most nearly adapted to the condi- 
tion of the people, is most in accordance with his will. 
He has not given specific directions for organizing a 
form of government ; but has signified in general, his 
will that rulers should be obeyed. Marriage is a 
divine institution, and the superiority of the husband 
in the conjugal relation, has been established by divine 
authority. In many ages and countries, husbands have 
tyrannized over their wives, and the female sex have 
been reduced to deplorable degradation ; but Chris- 



LIBERTY. 289 

tianity has never attempted to relieve their sufferings, 
by teaching them insubordination to their husbands. 
So civil governments have often been oppressive, and 
the people have groaned under their intolerable burden; 
but the voice of Christianity to them, in the midst of 
their sufferings, has always been, " Submit yourselves 
to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. * * * * 
Honor the king." l Whatever abuses of the matrimonial 
relation may have cursed the earth, it would be a still 
greater curse, if marriage were banished from human 
society. In like manner, the worst form of human 
government under which men have ever suffered, is 
better than total anarchy. Hence, even in oppressive 
governments, the rulers are "powers ordained of God;" 
and hence, obedience has been required to the king, 
even when that king was Nero. 

Liberty, considered as the absence of all restraint, 
cannot be a right of wicked men ; and if possessed by 
them, would be licentiousness rather than the true 
liberty which good governments aim to establish. Un- 
restrained licentiousness would deprive virtuous citizens 
of their liberty ; and hence government is necessary 
to their enjoyment of this right, and it becomes their 
interest and duty to sustain government, though at the 
sacrifice of some rights which they might have enjoyed, 
if all other men had been as virtuous as themselves. 
These restrictions, imposed by necessity, wbile they 
abridge liberty in some respects, secure the only pos- 
sible enjoyment of what remains. 

Religious Liberty. 

Individual responsibility to God is a prominent doc- 
trine of religion. It is taught in various forms 

1 1 Pet. ii. 13, 17. 
25 



290 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

throughout the Bible, and is expressly declared in the 
words, " Every one of us shall give account of himself to 
God." 1 Every man has his own intellect, his own con- 
science, and his own will. These faculties for moral 
action render him an accountable being ; and as the 
faculties belong to the individual, the responsibility is 
individual. God gives commands which bind each 
individual ; and the relation of each one to God is as 
distinct, and the obligations arising from it are as per- 
fect, as if he were the only created being in the 
universe. Of every one it may be said, " To his own 
master he standeth or falleth." 2 

Since our obligations to God are greater than to any 
created being whatsoever, no created being has a right 
to interfere with them. No one can release us from 
them, or free us from the necessity of accounting for 
ourselves individually. If persons whom we are bound 
to obey in other matters, command us to disobey God, 
we are bound to disregard their commands. If they 
have power to inflict punishment, we should bear it 
patiently, and commit ourselves to Him who judgeth 
righteously. Parental authority no longer binds when 
it comes in competition with the authority of God, for 
Christ said, " He that loveth father or mother more 
than me, is not worthy of me." 3 And if civil rulers 
require us to disobey the King Supreme, the apostles of 
Christ have taught us that we ought to obey God rather 
than men. 4 

Religious liberty is violated, — 

1. When men are required to worship any object 
contrary to their own convictions of duty. The three 
Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, who 
were commanded by King Nebuchadnezzar to worship 

1 Rom. xiv. 12. 2 Rom. xiv. 4. 3 Matt. x. 37. 4 Acts v. 29. 



LIBERTY. 291 

his golden image, nobly asserted their religious liberty 
by refusing to obey ; and their firmness received God's 
approbation, testified by their miraculous deliverance 
from the fiery furnace. 1 

2. When men are required to worship in a manner 
which they do not approve. In various countries reli- 
gious liberty has been violated, by requiring a com- 
pliance with the forms of worship peculiar to the 
Roman Catholic Church ; and numerous acts of like 
injustice and oppression have proceeded from Pro- 
testant sects. 

3. When men are forbidden to worship God. Daniel 
was forbidden to pray to God, and, for disobeying the 
prohibition, was cast into the den of lions. 2 

4. When men are required to support a form of re- 
ligion which they do not approve. Religion is neces- 
sary to national prosperity and happiness ; and if its 
existence were dependent on legal support, it would be 
as lawful to support it as to support common schools. 
But true religion is best supported by voluntary con- 
tributions. It cannot be made dependent on law 
without becoming a tool of government, and losing the 
purity and lustre with which it is adorned while free 
from unholy alliance with the state. Since religion 
does not require legal support, the maintenance of the 
clergy by taxation is a violation of religious liberty. It 
takes from the worshipper the privilege of making a 
free-will offering, even when it does not apply the ex- 
acted contribution to support forms of worship which he 
does not approve. 

5. When men are denied the enjoyment of civil 
rights because of their religion. It is in general 
best for the cause of religion that clergymen should 

1 Dan. iii. 12-27. 2 Dan. vi. 4-23. 



292 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

not hold civil offices ; but their clerical character 
ought not to be made a legal disqualification. When a 
form of religion is preferred by law to others, and com- 
pliance with it made necessary to the holding of civil 
office, the citizens are denied equal rights; and, in 
violation of religious freedom, a penalty is inflicted on 
all other forms of religion. Civil government was not 
instituted to determine how men should worship God ; 
and its interference with religion is not conducive to 
true piety or public happiness. 

The obligation to obey civil rulers ceases whenever 
they command disobedience to God. The first Chris- 
tians were taught to submit patiently to civil despotism, 
however oppressive, in things pertaining to this life ; 
but to resist firmly, even unto death, all interference 
with their obligations to God. Thousands of martyrs 
willingly gave up their lives, rather than relinquish the 
right to worship God in obedience to his command. 
We prize the boon of civil liberty as of inestimable 
value, and boast that our fathers freely shed their blood 
to obtain it ; but Christianity teaches us to set an infi- 
nitely higher estimate on religious liberty. The New 
Testament does not record a single Christian life lost, 
or a single drop of Christian blood shed, in defence of 
civil liberty ; but it teaches cheerful submission to the 
loss of blood and life, in defence of religious liberty. 
It requires every disciple of Christ to give himself to 
the conflict, and to yield his life, if necessary, a sacri- 
fice to the cause. In this holy cause, torrents of martyr 
blood have been shed; and wherever and whenever 
religion and persecution have come in conflict, the true 
spirit of Christianity prompts to resist all encroach- 
ment on the rights of conscience, at every hazard and 
every sacrifice. 



LIBERTY. 293 

Liberty of Speech and of the Press. 

Society ought to be organized and governed in such 
a manner as to promote human happiness in the highest 
possible degree ; and, for this purpose, it should confer 
as great advantages, and impose as few restrictions, as 
the nature of the organization and the character of the 
people will allow. 

Men in society render benefit to each other by the 
labor of the body, but much more by the labor of the 
mind. A very large part of the benefit which one 
mind confers on another, is conveyed through the me- 
dium of language ; and it is, therefore, important to the 
interests of society, that the intercourse of minds, by 
means of language, should be as free as possible. By 
means of it, one mind may confer incalculable benefits 
on the whole human race, extending to the last genera- 
tion that will inhabit the earth. But an instrument of 
so great power may be employed to effect evil. By 
means of it, one mind may send forth a stream of per- 
nicious influence, that will spread with poisoning effect 
through a whole community, and flow down through 
many generations. A power so mighty for weal or woe 
ought not to be overlooked in the regulations of society, 
and the proper management of it requires the exercise 
of the highest wisdom. 

The power of language has been greatly extended by 
the art of printing. Since the invention of this art, 
learning has advanced with a progress unknown to 
former ages ; the arts have attained a degree of improve- 
ment which fills intelligent minds with astonishment; 
books are multiplied ; the ability to read them is spread- 
ing rapidly everywhere ; and everywhere they are 
brought in contact with the awakened mind of man, 
producing effects unknown in former generations, and, 
25* 



294 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

to a great extent, forming the character and the destiny 
of the generations to come. A power so vast needs to 
be well regulated. 

The general rule to be observed for regulating the 
liberty of speech and of the press, is to impose no 
unnecessary restriction. In many cases, by allowing 
unrestrained freedom of discussion, the evil which one 
mind would effect is counteracted by other minds, truth 
is elicited, and men are excited to cautious investigation 
and self-reliance, with far better results than could be 
attained by fallible legislation. But there are cases 
which need another remedy. 

The delivery of lectures, and the publication of books 
and prints, which have a tendency to. undermine the 
morals of society, ought to be prohibited bylaw. These 
have their effect on the young and thoughtless, before 
better instruction can be applied ; and fatal mischief is 
done by corrupting the imagination and inflaming the 
passions, mischief which cannot be afterwards undone. 
The precise limit of restriction, in these cases, it may 
be difficult to determine ; but the wisdom of legislators 
ought to provide that the incendiaries of social morals 
shall be restrained from kindling fires that it is impos- 
sible for human power and skill to extinguish. No 
new experiment is required to prove that corruption 
of morals is destructive of national prosperity and 
happiness. 

Slander also needs legislative prohibition and penalty. 
The evils which it inflicts on the reputation of the indi- 
vidual assailed, extend beyond his reach, and often 
beyond his knowledge. Society ought to give its pro- 
tection in this case. The assassin who stabs the repu- 
tation, and the assassin who stabs the heart, deserve 
alike to suffer the avenging power of the law. 



DUTIES OF CIVIL OFFICERS. 295 

SECTION VI. DUTIES OF CIVIL OFFICERS. 

I. It is the duty of legislators to possess the know- 
ledge necessary for their office, and to labor for the 
enactment of righteous and beneficial laws. 

Since civil society is organized for the protection of 
rights, the laws which it needs are chiefly those which 
define rights, and provide against their infraction. All 
rights are founded on the principles of morality ; and 
the moral judgments of mankind have been employed 
in past ages, in deciding questions of right which have 
arisen between men. With these decisions of common 
law, and the principles on which they are founded, and 
the statutes which are in force, every legislator ought 
to be acquainted, since, without such knowledge, he is 
not qualified to judge whether new enactments are 
necessary, or what should be their character. 

The modes of organization adopted by civil societies, 
are not uniform. Every legislator ought to understand 
the peculiar constitution of the society for which he 
acts, whether it be written "or unwritten ; and ought to 
conform his legislation to it. He is merely an agent 
for the society, and possesses no official power beyond 
that with which society invests him. If he so far dis- 
approves the constitution of the society, that he cannot 
conform to it, he ought to resign his office. If, know- 
ing the constitution, he purposely violates it, he is guilty 
of high crime. 

A legislator ought to be acquainted with the history 
of past legislation, and its success ; and he ought to 
understand the character of the people for whom he 
legislates. The experience of other countries, and of 
his own country in times past, will assist him greatly in 
determining what measures are best for the prevention 
of wrong. But the effects of legislation vary according 



296 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

to the character of the people; and therefore a legisla- 
tor cannot be directed by experience only ; but he must 
understand the character of his people, that he may be 
able to adapt the teaching of experience to their pecu- 
liarities. 

A legislator ought to labor, according to his best 
ability, for the enactment of righteous and beneficial 
laws. As he acts primarily for the protection of rights, 
he should carefully regard the rights of every individual 
as sacred ; and place them, as far as possible, beyond 
the reach of encroachment. He must not legislate for 
his own personal good, or the good of a particular party, 
or section of the community. He acts for the whole 
people ; and to the good of the whole people his 
legislation should be directed. But it should be his 
fixed maxim, that the welfare of a people cannot be 
promoted by unrighteousness ; and ought not if it could. 
He may compromise with associates in office, who may 
differ from him in judgment, on questions of expediency 
for the public welfare; but on a question of right, he 
should admit no compromise. Against all wrong, he 
should labor firmly and perseveringly, to the full extent 
of his official power. 

II. The judiciary department of government, in- 
cludes judges and jurors : the judges interpret the laws ; 
the jurors decide questions of fact. 

Judges, like legislators, ought to be well acquainted 
with the principles of morality on which the laws are 
founded ; with the past decisions of courts, and with the 
statute laws in force. They ought, moreover, to be 
thoroughly acquainted with the constitution of the 
country for which they act. This last knowledge is 
specially necessary for them ; because the responsibility 
devolves on them, of setting aside an enactment of the 



DUTIES OF CITIZENS. 297 

legislature as null and void, if it be contrary to the con- 
stitution. 

While the laws of the legislature conform to the con- 
stitution, the judges have no right to reject them. It 
is their duty to interpret ; but they have no right to 
nullify or repeal ; and they should interpret honestly, 
regardless of all consequences to themselves or others. 

Jurors are bound to decide, without favor to any 
party, the questions of fact which may be submitted to 
them, according to the testimony presented. No 
threats or bribes should induce them to pervert judg- 
ment in the slightest degree. They act for the good 
of the whole people ; and they ought to feel the obliga- 
tion of preserving the fountains of justice pure. They 
act under the solemnity of an oath, and they ought to 
feel their responsibility to the God of truth and justice, 
to whom they must give account. 

III. Executive officers are bound to execute the laws 
without fear, and without favor. 

It does not properly belong to the executive power, 
to enact or to interpret the laws. The highest execu- 
tive officer sometimes possesses, according to the con- 
stitution, a veto power over the enactments of the 
legislature. So far, he is co-ordinate with the legisla- 
ture, in the service of law-making ; but when he has 
exercised this power according to the constitution, his 
legislative function ceases. As an executive officer, he 
is bound to execute the laws, whether he approves 
them or not ; and, in the interpretation and application 
of them, he is bound by the decisions of the judiciary. 
Complete and strict subjection of executive officers to 
the laws, is indispensable to the liberty of the people. 

SECTION VII. DUTIES OF CITIZENS. 

While civil government is confined to its proper 



298 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

object, and administered with justice, it is the duty of 
every citizen to yield it his obedience and support. In 
a government established by the will of the people, the 
obligation of each individual has the force of a con- 
tract. The descendants of those by whom the govern- 
ment was originated, come under its authority without 
their formal consent ; but, by the will of God, they 
are bound to take their place in society, according to 
the obligations entered into by their fathers. Even in 
governments not formed by the will of the people, the 
authority of God binds the citizens to yield their obe- 
dience and support. 

1. Every citizen is under obligation to the govern- 
ment, to fulfil all his duties of reciprocity. He would 
be under obligation to do this, if no government existed; 
but government has authority to compel the perform- 
ance of these duties ; and this authority brings on him 
a new obligation. He must do justice to all, not only 
as a moral being bound to do right, but as a member 
of civil society, organized for the protection of rights. 
He cannot consistently claim protection for his own 
rights, if he violates the rights of others. 

2. Citizens are under obligation to relinquish to 
society the right of redressing their injuries. It is the 
duty of society to protect its members ; but cases may 
arise, in which time is not allowed for the power of 
society to interpose. In such cases, the right of self- 
protection belongs to the individual ; but when he has time 
to invoke the protection of society, he is bound, by his 
relation to the community, to commit the protection of 
his rights to government. After wrongs have been 
perpetrated, penalties need to be inflicted to prevent 
their repetition; but individual citizens reject the 
authority of government if they undertake to redress 
their own wrongs. "Were this course taken by all, 



DUTIES OF CITIZENS. 299 

government would be abolished, and society subjected 
to all the evils of anarchy. 

3. Citizens are bound to pay their several parts of 
the public expenses. Government cannot be sustained 
without expense ; and every individual ought cheerfully 
to pay his quota. The benefits received from a good 
government, are an abundant compensation for its cost ; 
and to receive these benefits without paying for them, 
is a fraud on the other members of the community, by 
whom the government is sustained. 

4. Citizens are under obligation to support their 
government by physical strength, as well as by pecuni- 
ary contributions. Cases sometimes occur, in which 
the strength of the executive officers is insufficient for 
the enforcement of the laws ; and such cases would 
occur much more frequently, if it were not understood 
that these officers can command to their aid the physi- 
cal strength of the community. The civil ruler would 
hold the sword in vain, if it were wielded by the un- 
aided strength of his own arm ; and he would cease to 
be a terror to evil doers, if citizens were under no 
obligation to give him physical support. 

5. In order to the stability and success of their 
government, citizens are bound, as far as they can, to 
render it virtuous and efficient. The best form of 
government must be unsuccessful, if the administration 
of it be committed to weak or dishonest hands. When 
citizens elect their rulers, they are under obligation to 
intrust public offices to those only who will discharge 
the duties with ability and faithfulness. They are 
bound, moreover, to promote as much as possible the 
general diffusion of intelligence and virtue, as indispen- 
sable to the stability of the government and the welfare 
of the community. 



300 PUBLIC DUTIES. 



SECTION VIII. POLITICAL OPPRESSION. 

Social regulations ought to be established on the 
principles of justice, and these principles are violated 
in such cases as the following: — 

1. "When property is taken by arbitrary power. This 
is frequently done in despotic governments. 

2. When property is taken for purposes not neces- 
sary to the government. If pyramids are built for de- 
ceased monarchs, or splendid palaces built, and large 
armies maintained, merely to gratify the pride and 
ambition of the living, all exactions of property from 
individuals for these or other purposes, not required by 
the good of the community, are violations of right. 

3. When the tax assessed on each individual is not 
made proportionate, as nearly as possible, to the benefit 
which he receives from society. The laws render protec- 
tion to the person and property of the individual ; and 
for this protection he ought to pay willingly a fair quota 
of the expense. The tax on property ought in general 
to vary according to its value, so far as it comes under 
the protection of the law. 

4. When unnecessary restrictions are imposed on 
personal liberty. Men ought to be permitted to pursue 
their own happiness in the way of their choice, if not 
inconsistent "with the public good. Tyrannical rulers 
have often imprisoned without just cause, and have de- 
tained persons in prison by unnecessary delay of trial. 

5. When religious liberty is violated. Under govern- 
ments where some form of religion is established by 
law, it is impossible that men should have full enjoy- 
ment of religious liberty. 

6. When life is unjustly taken, or personal injury 
inflicted, by the ruling power. Such injuries have 
sometimes been committed under forms of law ; at other 



POLITICAL OPPRESSION. 301 

times without such forms at the mere will of tyrannical 
despots. 

7. When the government fails to yield due protection 
to the citizens. If it inflicts no positive evil, the re- 
quirement to sustain it is oppressive, unless it accom- 
plishes in some good degree the purposes for which 
governments are instituted. 

Right of Revolution. 

When governments violate their obligations to the 
people, the duty of citizens varies according to circum- 
stances. Evils must be endured patiently, when it is 
impossible to remedy them, or when the remedy would 
require some violation of duty, or would endanger the 
welfare of the community. The most corrupt government 
has much in it that is worth preserving ; and the reform 
of abuses should be effected, if possible, without the 
loss of this remaining good. It is impossible to pre- 
scribe definite rules for every case which may arise ; but, 

1. Citizens are not bound to yield passive obedience 
to government, whatever it may command. The 
apostles of Christ refused to obey the rulers who re- 
quired them to desist from preaching the gospel, and 
justified themselves on the ground that it was right " to 
obey God rather than men." 1 

2. It is, in general, better to suifer wrong from civil 
rulers, than to resist. If they command what is wrong, 
we may refuse to obey, and patiently endure the conse- 
quences. The effect of this course is in general far 
better than that of resistance by force. Resistance is 
civil war ; and civil war is attended with evils which 
every wise and virtuous man will seek to avoid. 

3. If the reformation of government cannot be 

1 Acts v. 29. 
26 






302 PUBLIC DUTIES. 

effected without war and bloodshed, it ought never to 
be attempted rashly. There may be circumstances in 
which a combined attempt to overthrow despotic power, 
and establish a better form of government, may become 
lawful. What these circumstances are, is a question 
of difficulty, for the practical solution of which a high 
degree of wisdom is necessary. To excite insurrection 
against existing authority, without a rational prospect 
of ultimate good, is criminal. The wisdom and justice 
of any particular attempt at revolution, must be de- 
termined by the facts of the case. These may be such 
as to indicate the will of Providence, that the attempt 
be made ; and the benefits resulting, may, as in the 
case of the American Revolution, give satisfactory 
assurance that the movement was directed by the finger 
of God, and was made with his approbation. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
DUTIES TO SELF 



SECTION I. CARE OF HEALTH. 

Our enjoyments depend much on our health. With- 
out health, the food which we eat with pleasure at other 
times, becomes loathsome ; the sweetest strains of music 
cease to charm ; and the beauties of nature, which were 
before contemplated with delight, lose all their attrac- 
tion. Instead of these pleasures, sickness brings pain 
and suffering ; often producing fretful impatience, and 
rendering life a burden. Hence, self-love requires that 
we should preserve our health, so far as it is within our 
power ; and, since many of the causes which affect 
health, are within our power, it becomes a duty of self- 
love so to regulate these causes as to promote our own 
happiness. 

Health is necessary to duty as well as to enjoyment. 
Without it, we cannot labor for the public good, or for 
the glory of God. Whatever may be our intellectual 
power, it fails to be useful to others, when the physical 
strength is exhausted by disease ; and, whatever may 
be our eminence in piety, we then cease to perform 
active service for God, and can glorify him only by 
patient endurance and submission. Hence, we are 
under stronger obligation than self-love can impose, to 

(303) 



304 DUTIES TO SELF. 

attend to the preservation of health. Duty to God and 
our fellow-men requires it. 

Young persons are too commonly thoughtless respect- 
ing their health, and possess very little of the know- 
ledge which is necessary for its preservation. They 
enter on pleasure, business, or study, as if their bodies 
were formed of imperishable materials ; and the ardor 
of their pursuit is not abated, until health is perhaps 
irrecoverably gone, or some organ or function of the 
material and perishable fabric permanently injured. 
Many a life would have been far happier and more 
useful, if its days of vigor had been spent with a wise 
regard to health. Parents owe it to their children, and 
teachers to their pupils, to direct early attention to this 
subject, and to give them instruction for the preserva- 
tion of health. 

Temperance is necessary to health ; temperance in 
eating, in drinking, in labor, in study. The indulgence 
of the appetite may yield present pleasure, at the 
expense of future enjoyment, and ability for future 
usefulness. The glutton and the inebriate destroy 
themselves by a species of suicide, which, though it may 
be slow in its operation, is certain in its effect. Nor is 
health in danger from excessive indulgence only. Ex- 
cessive labor, either of body or mind, may destroy the 
ability to labor. Some are capable of performing more 
labor than others ; and every one should endeavor to 
ascertain the measure of his strength, and so to regu- 
late his efforts, and the continuance of them, that his 
powers may be employed, on the whole, to the best pos- 
sible effect. 

Exercise is necessary to health. The exercise of 
the muscles increases the muscular strength, and, in 
general, every corporeal function derives strength from 
exercise, if it be in a healthy state ; but diseased organs 






CARE OF HEALTH. 305 

in general require rest, and also organs whose strength 
has been exhausted by labor. Action and rest must be 
alternated to produce their best effect. Action, too 
long continued, may produce permanent exhaustion ; 
and habitual inaction always produces debility. These 
remarks apply to mental as well as bodily labor. Health 
is promoted by wisely-directed mental effort, and in the 
records of longevity are found the names of men distin- 
guished for intellectual power and studious habits. 

Drunkenness, 

Drunkenness is a crime which destroys soundness of 
both body and mind. Alcoholic liquor, when taken in 
sufficient quantity, deprives of consciousness and mus- 
cular power ; and consequently unfits a man for all the 
duties of life. What he owes to himself, to his family, 
to society, and to God, must be unpaid during this 
period of mental and bodily imbecility. After a time, 
the effects of the poisonous drug so far subside that he 
regains possession of himself, but he is not the man 
that he was before. "His physical and moral powers 
have received a shock, and insidious habit has begun to 
undermine the foundation on which he stands. Every 
repetition of the intoxicating potion binds another chain 
around him, until habit becomes irresistible, and he 
surrenders himself a helpless and hopeless victim to 
ruin and death. Multitudes have pursued this career 
to its sad termination, and have left behind them a 
melancholy warning to their survivors. 

The effects of drunkenness on human happiness are 
evil to an extent that exceeds all calculation. The 
inebriate himself is made unhappy, and finds existence 
a burden, from which he seeks relief in the soothing 
oblivion which the stupefying cup affords him. How 
many broken-hearted wives, how many neglected and 
26* 



306 DUTIES TO SELF. 

ruined children, are among the victims of drunkenness! 
How disastrous have been its effects on industry, good 
management, and all the springs of social prosperity! 

Drunkenness produces evils beyond those which arise 
from mere neglect of duty. While the drunken man 
deprives his family and society of his services, he does 
not annihilate himself, but remains an oppressive burden 
which they are compelled to bear. And often the mad- 
dening demon within drives him to perpetrate crimes 
over which he himself weeps at returning intervals of 
sanity. Many have felt that the suicide of drunkenness 
is too lingering ; and have sought, by speedier self- 
destruction, to free society from a burden which they 
were unwilling longer to impose : but the majority of 
inebriates consent to remain in the world till their phy- 
sical powers are exhausted, and their opportunity of 
doing evil necessarily terminated. 

The question, how far a drunken man is responsible 
for crimes committed in drunkenness, is one which 
jurists are compelled to consider, and which every man 
ought well to consider who allows himself to sip the 
intoxicating beverage. It has been held that the 
drunken man is responsible for what he does, according 
to the measure of consciousness which he retains ; and 
responsible for getting drunk, according to the proba- 
bility of the consequences which might ensue. If we 
suppose the guilt of a sober man, while in a state of 
perfect consciousness, to be the whole guilt, then the 
guilt of the drunken man,. who retains only half of his 
consciousness, will be one-half of the whole guilt. And 
then, if it were known beforehand that the probability 
of the mischief was one-half of the certainty, the guilt 
of getting drunk has been computed to be one-half of 
the remainder ; making altogether his responsibility to 
be three-fourths of the whole guilt. But this mode of 



CARE OF HEALTH. 307 

computation is not correct. When men are pressed to 
decide between conflicting duties, it becomes necessary 
to estimate the probabilities of good or evil to result 
from the courses of conduct out of which they must 
make their selection. But no duty urges any man to 
drink intoxicating liquor ; and he is therefore bound to 
abstain, not merely by the probability, but also by the 
possibility, that evil may ensue. If he voluntarily 
madden himself, when there is no necessity, he is re- 
sponsible for that madness with all its consequences. 
Instead of allowing drunkenness to be an excuse for 
crime, it ought rather to be held guilty of the crimes 
which, though not actually perpetrated, it is liable to 
originate. If human courts will not judge it with so 
much severity, this will probably be the rule of its trial 
at the last tribunal. It seems to men a little matter 
to drink a few drops of pleasant liquid ; as it seemed to 
mother Eve an indulgence which could not possibly de- 
serve the penalty of death, to eat the fruit which she 
saw to be pleasant to the eyes, and good for food. 1 But 
God has chosen to try men's allegiance to him, by such 
matters as eating and drinking ; and, trifling as the act 
may in itself appear, he sets its consequences before 
us, and vrarns us t)y all the fearfulness of his righteous 
retribution, to abstain from every forbidden indulgence. 
Men may think themselves their own masters, and 
indulge in the pleasures of wine at their own will, but 
God claims dominion over them, and has declared that 
drunkards shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 2 

The habit of drinking intoxicating liquors is often 
acquired in early life ; and the use of them in society, 
as tokens of hospitality and friendship, has tended 
greatly to multiply the victims of drunkenness. Young 

1 Gen. iii. 6. 2 1 Cor. vi. 10. 



308 DUTIES TO SELF. 

persons should guard against the habit, as they would 
guard against having their eyes put out, or their hands 
cut off. If eyes or hands have been lost by youthful 
folly, the regrets of future years cannot restore them ; 
and experience has shown, that an early acquired habit 
of drinking, though it may be lamented and feebly 
resisted in after life, almost invariably brings the sub- 
ject of it to the drunkard's grave. 

SECTION II. INDUSTRY AND FRUGALITY. 

Self-love requires that we provide for the future. 
After the best possible care of our health, days of sick- 
ness may come, in which we shall be unable to provide 
for the wants that may then oppress us ; or old age may 
come, with long-continued debility, and incapacity for 
labor. A prudent foresight requires that we make pro- 
vision while in health and vigor, for such days of fee- 
bleness or decrepitude. Hence self-love imposes the 
obligation to be industrious and frugal. 

Industry is a virtue on which our success in every 
laudable attempt greatly depends. It is an appoint- 
ment of heaven, that bread shall be obtained by labor, 
and that he who will not work, shall not eat. Slothful- 
ness tends to poverty ; and the man wTio indulges pres- 
ent love of ease is liable to suffer future want of bread. 
The student who consults his ease, will fail to make 
good progress in the attainment of knowledge. The 
traveller who is chiefly solicitous for comfort and repose, 
will make slow progress in his journey. God has given 
to the sons of men to be exercised with labor ; and, in 
every business of life, he who would attain his object 
must pursue it with industry. 

Frugality is another virtue which self-love recom- 
mends. What industry provides will be of no avail for 
the future if it be wasted through negligence, or squan- 



SELF-DEFENCE. 309 

dered on present gratification. Frugality opposes the 
demands for present indulgence, and preserves the sup- 
plies for future use. Industry and frugality are asso- 
ciate virtues which need the aid of each other. By 
their joint exercise, future competence can scarcely fail 
to be secured. 

These virtues are enforced by higher authority than 
that of self-love. Paul taught the Christians of Ephe- 
sus to labor that they " may have to give to him that 
needeth." 1 If we would practise benevolence to the 
poor, if we w^ould promote the public good, if we would 
advance the cause of religion, we have need to practise 
industry and frugality. 

SECTION III. SELF-DEFENCE. 

As men are under obligation to take care of their 
health, and to provide food, and whatever else may be 
necessary for the continuance of their lives ; so they 
are under obligation to guard their lives from surround- 
ing or threatening dangers. If assaulted by wild beasts 
or hostile men, they are not at liberty to exercise no 
care, or use no effort, to save themselves from being 
maimed or killed. If a father should permit the child 
at his side to be seized and devoured by a wild beast, 
which he could have readily driven away, or destroyed, 
he is guilty of that child's death. So the Saviour of 
mankind reasoned, when he said, " Is it lawful to do 
good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil ; to save life, 
or to kill?" 2 The question to be decided was, whether 
it was right for him to heal on the Sabbath day. The 
alternative was the mere omission to heal ; and this 
alternative, the mere omission to heal when he had op- 
portunity, is accounted, in his reasoning, a positive evil. 

1 Eph. iv. 28. 2 Mark iii. 4. 



310 DUTIES TO SELF. 

To neglect an opportunity of doing good, is to do evil; 
to neglect an opportunity of saving life, is to destroy 
it. On this principle, the father who neglects to save 
his child, destroys it ; and so the man who loses his life 
by neglecting to employ the proper means of self- 
defence, commits a species of suicide. 

Self-defence is required by self-love ; but, like the 
duties considered in the last two sections, it is enforced 
by higher obligations than that which mere self-love 
can impose. The father is bound to protect his child 
from higher considerations than the mere impulse of 
parental affection ; and so a man is bound to protect 
his own life from higher considerations than the mere 
impulse of self-love. The authority of conscience and 
of God interposes. A man's child and his own life are 
placed under his special guardianship by the Creator ; 
and as he has no right to destroy either, so he has no 
right to permit either to be destroyed by his voluntary 
neglect. 

In self-defence we are bound to determine our course 
of action, with a due regard to conflicting obligations. 
A man who is attacked by his neighbor's dog is under 
obligation to defend himself, and also under obligation 
not to harm his neighbor's property. When these ob- 
ligations come into conflict, the latter must yield to the 
former, so far as necessity requires, and no further. 
If he can defend himself by frightening the dog, he 
ought not to kill him. The same principle applies to 
cases of assault by human beings ; but the difficulty in 
its application is far greater. The obligation to self- 
defence is the same in both cases, but the conflicting 
obligation is much greater when the assailant is human, 
because the life of a rational and immortal being is of 
far greater value than the life of a brute. When these 
obligations come into conflict with each other, every 



SELF-DEFENCE. 311 

conscientious wise man, who is compelled to act in such 
trying circumstances, will desire the counsel of others 
lest he should err through weakness of judgment or 
strength of passion. Hence every conscientious wise 
man will rejoice that civil government has been estab- 
lished for the adjudication of such cases; and he will 
gladly, whenever it is practicable, refer all such cases 
to the decision of the civil tribunal. But it is not 
always practicable to appeal to the civil authority. 
The emergency may require too speedy action to allow 
consultation with any one, and it is, therefore impor- 
tant that some general principles be fixed in the mind 
by which we may direct our conduct in such emergen- 
cies. 

I. It is our duty to avoid hostile assault, if we can. 

The instructions of Scripture are explicit on this 
subject. " If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, 
live peaceably with all men." 1 The precise means of 
avoiding hostility are not pointed out ; but the obliga- 
tion to seek peace is expressed by a strongly emphatic 
tautology, in which the phrase, If it be possible, is fol- 
lowed by another of like import, as much as in you 
lieth. We are bound to avoid making an assault on 
any one, and, if it be made on us, we are bound to 
avoid it, or escape from it, if possible. By prudently 
withdrawing from exposure to danger, we may give 
time for the fury of the assailant to subside, and may 
not only preserve ourselves from receiving injury, and 
from temptation to inflict injury, but we may do great 
good to the assailant, by preventing him from doing 
what he might afterwards remember with bitter regret. 

In opposition to the pacific instructions which are 
given in the Holy Scriptures, the pride of the human 

1 Rom. xii. 18. 



312 DUTIES TO SELF. 

heart inclines to resist every evil with which we may be 
assailed or threatened. It is deemed cowardly to retire 
from conflict, and the thoughtless crowd honor and ap- 
plaud the man who, in disobedience to God, risks his 
life to meet and repel an assault with which he is me- 
naced. It requires more heroism than most men pos- 
sess to obey God, and do right in face of public scorn 
and contempt. Many who quail not before weapons of 
death, are abject cowards in opposition to popular 
odium. But the truly great and good man will fear- 
lessly do right at whatever hazard. 

II. It is lawful, in self-defence, to restrain by force 
the power of an assailant. 

The words of the apostle Paul, cited above, clearly 
imply that it is not possible, in all cases, to live peace- 
ably with all men. Assaults may be made upon us, 
from which we have not time or opportunity to escape. 
In such cases, if any room is left for appeal to the 
moral feelings of the assailant, a triumph may be 
achieved by disarming his rage, and inducing him to 
do right. If we can gain this triumph, even at the cost 
of some personal suffering, we shall have a rich reward. 
But if appeals to moral feeling avail nothing, and non- 
resistance on our part serves only to encourage aggres- 
sion, we are not bound to submit passively to his 
violence. We are bound, however, to defend ourselves, 
if possible, without doing harm to the assailant. We 
may avert his blow, or we may seize his arm when 
raised to inflict it, or we may wrest the deadly weapon 
from his hand. In such cases we infringe his personal 
liberty ; but he has no right to use his personal liberty 
to our injury, and therefore we commit no trespass on 
his rights when we restrain his violence only so far as 
is necessary for our safety. 

III. It is lawful, in self-defence, to arrest the pro- 



SELF-DEFENCE. 313 

gress of an assault, by doing personal harm to the 
assailant. 

If an assassin attempts my life, and I can, by a well- 
directed blow, break the arm which is driving the 
dagger to my heart, I save my life, by doing him a 
small measure of harm. Would it have been better 
that I had passively submitted to his criminal design ? 
My life is of more value than his arm, and when the 
choice is forced upon me, I am bound to prefer my own 
preservation. 

The principle which has been here set forth, does 
not justify a blow inflicted in return for a blow received. 
Retaliation commonly provokes, rather than prevents 
injury ; and, apart from its evil tendency, it proceeds 
from a temper of mind inconsistent with pure benevo- 
lence. The aim of a blow inflicted in retaliation, is 
harm to our neighbor ; and this harm our mind contem- 
plates as the end of the action. The aim of a blow to 
prevent injury, is self-preservation, without desire to 
harm even the enemy who is attempting our life. We 
may inflict the blow, with poignant regret that he will 
receive harm from it. In this case, the injury which 
he receives, is properly the result of his own crime, 
and may be viewed as self-inflicted. 

Punishment may be inflicted for crimes that have 
been committed, as a means for the general prevention 
of crime ; but this means of prevention belongs pro- 
perly to civil society. Here retaliation is allowable. 
" Life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 
hand for hand, foot for foot." 1 Civil government is 
an ordinance of God, designed to prevent injury by 
the infliction or threat of punishment, and invested 
with power for this purpose. It is so far clothed with 

1 Deut. xix. 21. 
27 



314 DUTIES TO SELF. 

the divine prerogative of taking vengeance; and the 
civil ruler is called a revenger 1 of evil. But individu- 
als are bound, as members of society, and as subjects 
of God's government, to leave the avenging of their 
injuries to God, the supreme governor, and to the sub- 
ordinate governors whom he has appointed on earth for 
this purpose. 

IV. It is lawful for me to take the life of an assail- 
ant, when my own life cannot be otherwise preserved 
from his injurious and unprovoked assault. 

If the father of a family sees a savage foe approach- 
ing, and knows that it is his intent to murder every 
member of the family, if escape is impossible, and 
appeal to moral feeling either impossible or absolutely 
hopeless, what is this father's duty in the case ? Ou^ght 
he to give up, without resistance, his own life, and the 
lives of his wife and children, to the murderous mon- 
ster ? Were it a tiger that sought their blood, no 
doubt could exist that he ought to save his family, by 
killing the ferocious beast; but is the obligation to 
protect his family less imperative, because the ferocious 
animal that approaches, possesses a human form ? In 
that form he is bound to recognise a fellow-man, a 
neighbor, so far as he can perform towards him duties 
of reciprocity or benevolence ; but the man has volun- 
tarily and criminally placed himself in circumstances 
which make it necessary that he should be treated as a 
wild beast, and in which the usual manifestations of 
benevolence are impossible. He acts the part of a 
savage beast, and must be treated as such, so far as 
the protection of the family requires. 

Will it be said that the father ought to save his 
family by intimidating the savage ? We concede that 

1 Rom. xiii. 4. 



SELF-DEFENCE. 315 

he ought not to take his life, if the preservation of 
the family can be accomplished by other means. But 
the right to intimidate, by a threat of violence, implies 
a right to execute the threat in case of necessity. Such 
threats, from a conscientious man, must prove unavail- 
ing, if it be known that it is unlawful to execute them. 

If an individual has no right to take life in any case, 
the father who saves his family by killing their intended 
murderer, is himself guilty of murder. But the moral 
judgments of mankind will never so decide ; and no 
human law will ever condemn and punish such an act 
as murder. The divine law 1 has decided that it is not 
murder to kill a thief who breaks into the house by 
night to steal ; and if it permitted a man to defend his 
property, much more did it permit him to defend the 
lives of his family. 

If it be established that a man may lawfully take life 
to save himself and his family from being murdered, 
the principle involved will apply when but a single life 
is to be preserved. If it is right to protect one's 
family, it is right to protect one's self. In this case it 
is true that one life is set over against one life ; and a 
doubt may be suggested, whether it is right for one life 
to be taken, if but one is to be preserved by it. But 
we never plead that a murderer's life ought to be spared 
because he has murdered only one man. His life is 
equally forfeited to the law, whether he has murdered 
one or many. If a man should allow himself to be 
murdered by an assailant, rather than take his life, he 
gives up his own life for a life that will be forfeited to 
the law, after the deed of murder has been consum- 
mated. He permits two lives to be lost to the commu- 

1 Ex. xxii. 2. 



316 DUTIES TO SELF. 

nity, when he might have saved one ; and that one the 
life which ought to have been saved, and which had 
been placed under his special guardianship by the 
Author of his being. Duty to the community, there- 
fore, and duty to God, require that he should protect 
himself in such circumstances. 

But that a man who takes life in self-defence may 
be guiltless, the assault on him must be wholly unjust 
and unprovoked. If he has brought it on himself, when 
he might have avoided it, God will not hold him guilt- 
less. He must, moreover, be free from all revengeful 
passion, and from every feeling of pleasure, or abate- 
ment of regret, from the consideration that the indi- 
vidual killed was his enemy. He must love him as a 
fellow-creature, and mourn over him with unaffected 
sorrow, as over an erring brother who has perished in 
his sin. 

Objection 1. — Jesus Christ was eminently harmless. 
He inflicted pain and suffering on no one, but went 
about doing good ; and he commanded his disciples : " Do 
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which 
despitefully use you." * It is contrary to his religion, 
as taught both by example and precept, to do harm to 
any one, and especially so great harm as to kill the 
body, and hurry the soul from the only place of repent- 
ance and pardon, to the judgment and retributions of 
the future life. 

When two of Christ's disciples asked leave to call 
down fire from heaven on some who had displeased 
them, he said: " The Son of Man is not come to destroy 
men's lives, but to save them." 2 He came into the 
world on an errand of mercy ; and his whole inter- 
course with mankind accorded with the benevolent 
design of his mission. Once he pronounced a curse ; 

1 Matt. v. 44. 2 Luke ix. 56. 



SELF-DEFENCE. 317 

but it was on a fig-tree. Once he permitted demons to 
do mischief; but it was to a herd of swine. To human 
beings, he did good, and good only, in feeding the 
hungry, healing the sick, and casting out devils. In 
like manner, his followers, if they imitate his example, 
and obey his precepts, will do good to mankind, even 
to their enemies and persecutors. 

But in a world such as ours, benevolent designs meet 
with obstacles to their accomplishment. Benevolence 
requires that we should seek to please our neighbor for 
his good ; but it often happens, that, in promoting his 
good, we must give him pain instead of pleasure ; and 
it often happens, that we must give pain to individuals, 
in promoting the public good. Even the tender Jesus 
gave pain to the covetous hearts of those whose tables 
of money he overthrew in the temple ; and, when he 
drove out those who bought and sold, if he did not give 
pain to their persons, the whip of cords which he used, 
indicated that he claimed a right to harm their persons 
as well as their property if it should be necessary. No 
one doubts that, when it becomes necessary to the ac- 
complishment of a benevolent design, a Christian father 
may give the pain of chastisement to a disobedient 
son ; a Christian surgeon, the pain of amputation to a 
patient with a diseased limb; and a Christian ruler, 
the pain of punishment to one who has violated the 
laws. In such cases, the pain or harm is not injury. 
It violates no right, and is not contrary to the pure 
benevolence of Christianity. Even when the harm 
done amounts to the loss of life, the individual who 
renders the taking of his life necessary, is guilty of 
his own death; and it is his own crime that plunges 
him unprepared into eternity. He has virtually dashed 
out his own brains against a wall of defence, by which 
every man is surrounded. 
27* 



318 DUTIES TO SELF. 

Objection 2. — Jesus Christ expressly forbade his 
followers to resist evil ; and commanded them, when 
smitten on one cheek, to turn the other. 

The instructions of Christ here referred to, prohibit 
retaliation. They teach us how to act, not for the pre- 
vention of injury, but after the injury has been re- 
ceived. The language of Christ is, "I say unto you, 
that ye resist not evil ; but whosoever shall smite 
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take 
away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And who- 
soever will compel thee to go a mile, go with him 
twain." 1 The cheek has been smitten, the coat has 
been taken, the compulsion to go a mile has com- 
pleted its effect. In every case, the injury has been 
consummated ; and the question is not how to prevent 
it, but what return to make for it. It is commanded 
that we shall return good for evil ; and in each case, the 
good specified is precisely such as is opposed to retalia- 
tion. Retaliation would require us to smite the in- 
jurer's cheek in return, or to take away his cloak, in 
place of the coat which he has wrongfully wrested from 
us. But, to show that retaliation must be avoided, a 
course of conduct is prescribed, directly opposed to it. 
That it was the Saviour's design to prohibit retaliation, 
is further evident from the fact, that he is commenting 
on the words of Moses, " an eye for an eye, and a tooth 
for a tooth." 2 The import of the instruction is, to 
consent that the injury be repeated, rather than reta- 
liate. When Jesus was himself smitten on one cheek, 
at his last trial, he did not literally turn the other ; but 
he did not retaliate. On the other hand, he did not 
invite another blow; but made such an appeal to jus- 

1 Matt. v. 39-41. 2 Verse 38. 



SELF-DEFENCE. 319 

tice as was adapted to prevent repetition of the injury. 
" If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil ; but 
if well, why smitest thou me?" 1 and his own example 
teaches us how to obey his precept in its true import. 
The meaning of Christ's precept is unfolded in the 
words of Paul, " Recompense to no man evil for evil. 
**** Avenge not yourselves." 2 In all this, the 
injury is supposed to have been received ; and we are 
forbidden to retaliate, or take vengeance. This is the 
doctrine of Christianity, as to the right mode of treat- 
ing those who have injured us; a doctrine not unknown 
in the Old Testament dispensation ; for it is said in the 
book of Proverbs, " If thine enemy be hungry, give 
him bread to eat ; and if he be thirsty, give him water 
to drink." 3 But neither the Old Testament, nor the 
New, prohibits the use of proper means for the preven- 
tion of injury. 

1 John xviii. 23. 2 Rom. xii. 17, 19. 3 Prov. xxv. 21. 



CHAPTER XV. 
POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 



SECTION I. MODES OF RESTRAINT. 

In Chapter XIII. it was shown that civil society is 
organized chiefly for the protection of rights ; and that, 
in affording this protection, it employs the agency of 
government. In Sections 6 and 7 of that chapter, we 
considered the duties of rulers and citizens — of rulers 
as the agents, and of citizens as the members, of civil 
society. 

In Section 3 of the last chapter, we have seen that 
individual citizens relinquish to society the protection 
of their rights, so far as the interposition of society can 
be invoked ; and that, hence, the redress of past wrongs 
is wholly relinquished to society; and that this arrange- 
ment has the sanction of the Christian religion, which 
denies to individuals the right of avenging themselves, 
and makes civil rulers the sole avengers of wrong. 

From the nature and design of the organization, civil 
society is under obligation to prevent and to punish 
injuries. The punishment of crimes is an important 
and necessary means of preventing their repetition, and 
the threat of punishment becomes the chief means of 
protecting the rights of citizens from injury. It is, 
therefore, the duty of society to affix, by established 

(320) 



IMPRISONMENT. 321 

laws, suitable penalties to crimes ; and to invest govern- 
ment, its agent, with power to inflict these penalties. 

The principal means of punishing and preventing 
injuries are four : imprisonment, capital punishment, 
war, and slavery. Each of these we shall consider in 
a separate section ; but, before we proceed to them, 
we shall briefly notice some subsidiary modes which 
have been adopted for obtaining the ends of good 
government. 

Surety of the Peace. — When one man declares on 
oath that he fears injury from another, the law requires 
that the person feared shall give bond and security to 
keep the peace. The violation of the condition of this 
bond is attended by a pecuniary penalty, and the fear 
of paying this penalty becomes a motive to refrain from 
committing injuries. 

Fines. — The laws sometimes prescribe pecuniary pen- 
alties for specified crimes. These are called fines. 

Banishment. — An individual may prevent injury by 
keeping at a distance from the injurious person. Society 
has sometimes imitated this mode of procedure by re- 
quiring the injurious person to leave its territory. 

Stripes. — Pain of body is sometimes inflicted as a 
punishment for crime. The most common mode of 
inflicting pain is by whipping. The Mosaic law allowed 
forty stripes, and forbade more ; but, in practice, the 
Jews limited the number to thirty-nine, lest, by a mis- 
take in the count, the prescribed number might be 
exceeded. Hence has arisen the legal limitation of 
stripes to the number of thirty-nine. 

SECTION II. IMPRISONMENT. 

An individual who is assailed may, to protect himself 
from injury, seize the arm which is uplifted to inflict a 
blow. This seizure infringes the personal liberty of the 



322 POWERS OP CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

assailant, and society cannot protect the rights of all 
the citizens without similar infringement of personal 
liberty when necessary. This may be done by im- 
prisonment. 

Atrocious crimes are sometimes punished with im- 
prisonment for life. In such cases, the criminal is 
regarded as too dangerous to be turned loose in the 
community. Generally imprisonment is for a limited 
period, which is proportioned to the magnitude of the 
crime. The temporary confinement is considered a 
punishment sufficient to deter the individual and others 
from repeating the offence. In our penitentiaries, labor 
is added to confinement, as a punishment and means of 
reform to the criminal ; and as a mode of lessening to 
the state the expense of his confinement. 

Persons charged with atrocious crimes are frequently 
imprisoned till they can be brought to trial. Society 
exercises this power over personal liberty, because it is 
indispensable to the purposes of justice that such per- 
sons should not have opportunity to escape. Through 
the unavoidable imperfection of human governments, 
innocent persons may sometimes be imprisoned on false 
accusation ; and, therefore, this indispensable power of 
society ought to be exercised with much caution. The 
probability of guilt should be well established, and the 
accused should be brought to trial without unnecessary 
delay. 

SECTION III. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 

Civil society has a right to punish with death those 
who commit the crime of murder. After the deluge, 
God said to Noah, the father of the new world, " Who- 
so sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be 
shed." 1 In the Mosaic law, provision was made to 

1 Gen. ix. 6. 



CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 323 

punish murderers with death. And in the New Tes- 
tament we are taught that civil rulers are appointed by 
God to be a terror to evil-doers ; and that, for this pur- 
pose, they are armed with the sword, which is an instru- 
ment of death. It is obvious that they could not be a 
terror to evil-doers by the mere holding of the sword, 
if they were not permitted to use it. It appears, there- 
fore, that, in all ages of the world, it has been the will 
of God that capital punishment should be used, as a 
means of deterring wicked men, and protecting the vir- 
tuous in the enjoyment of a peaceable and orderly 
life. 

Under the Mosaic law, numerous crimes besides mur- 
der were punished with death. The nation of Israel 
were under a peculiar covenant, which constituted Jeho- 
vah their God and King, and placed them under pecu- 
liar obligations to obey his statutes. Hence disobedi- 
ence was prohibited under severer penalties than would 
have been suited to other circumstances. A man who 
gathered sticks on the Sabbath day was, by divine com- 
mand, stoned to death; 1 but no one will maintain, that 
this divine command obliges all civil rulers to punish 
Sabbath-breakers in the same manner. The general 
principle of justice which pervaded the Mosaic code, 
was life for life — an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a 
tooth. By this principle the administration of justice 
was to be governed, in all cases for which no special 
divine statute made provision. This principle accords 
precisely with that which God announced to Noah as 
the basis of a criminal code for his descendants. As 
this divine rule was intended for the whole posterity of 
Noah, and as even the Israelites were bound by it in 
the absence of an express statute, we conclude that it 

1 Numbers xv. 32-36. 



324 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

is a rule for us to whom no other criminal law has been 
given by the supreme Ruler. 

The severity with which crimes were punished under 
the Hebrew theocracy, teaches the fearfulness of sin- 
ning against God ; and we ought, with Paul, to derive 
this instruction from it : " If the word spoken by angels 
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience 
received a just recompense of reward ; how shall we 
escape." x " He that despised Moses' law died without 
mercy under two or three witnesses ; of how much sorer 
punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy," 
&c. 2 Civil rulers are not required to inflict vengeance 
on all who slight the grace, or despise the authority 
of God. They should not exercise the fearful power 
of the sword, beyond the limits within which they have 
God's authority to wield it. Hence capital punishment 
ought to be inflicted for no other crime than murder. 
Since the moral quality resides in the intention, a fully- 
proved intention of murder may without injustice be 
treated as if the crime had been consummated. 

Some who admit the propriety of capital punishment, 
as a divine appointment, maintain that the right to in- 
flict it cannot be derived from natural law. There is 
at least sufficient doubt on this subject, to render us 
thankful to the Author of revelation, that he has not 
left us to be guided in this important matter by our own 
fallible reasonings. But if the doctri.ne of revelation 
on the point, could not be established by unaided rea- 
son to our full satisfaction ; it harmonizes with the best 
deductions of reason, and with the established princi- 
ples of natural law. 

All laws for the government of mankind are mere 
advice, if they are not sustained by penalties ; and 

2 Heb. ii. 2. 2 Heb. x. 28, 29. 



CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 325 

penalties affixed are unavailing, if power exists nowhere 
to inflict them. To inflict a penalty for past crime, is 
a work of vengeance forbidden "to individuals ; and were 
it equally prohibited to society, law would be worthless. 
Injuries are avenged by society, to prevent their repe- 
tition. Now, if an individual may take the life of an 
assailant to preserve his own life, the right of society 
over the assailant's life cannot be less ; otherwise, soci- 
ety, if its power could be invoked to protect the 
assailed party at the moment of danger, has a responsi- 
bility to which its power is unequal. We infer, hence, 
that society, in protecting the lives of citizens from a 
murderer, has a right to take the murderer's life. From 
the nature of the case, its power cannot in general be 
invoked until after the deed has been committed ; and 
it is hence avenging ; but the avenging power is mani- 
festly deficient, if it is not equal to what the prevent- 
ing power would have been. It is fit that the criminal 
should not suffer less harm, than might have been justly 
inflicted to preserve the life which he has destroyed. 
Society estimates the life of the murdered man now, as 
it was bound to estimate it, if it could have interposed 
before the deed was consummated ; and it does, though 
late, and for the preservation of other lives, what it 
would have been just to do, for the preservation of the 
life which it was unable to protect. 

Objection 1. — The decalogue expressly commands, 
" Thou shalt not kill," and this law binds society, as 
well as individuals. 

We admit that the decalogue, though given to the 
Israelites, is binding on all men ; but if the precept, 
" Thou shalt not kill," was, to the Israelites, .a general 
law, admitting limitations and exceptions, it must be so 
to other men. God, who gave them the precept, ex- 
pressly commanded them to kill the wicked inhabitants 
28 



326 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

of Canaan ; and, in numerous cases, required that the 
punishment of death should be inflicted on their own 
countrymen, for violation of the law which he had 
given them. If capital punishment was consistent with 
the precept then, it must be consistent now. 

Objection 2. — Society cannot change the relations 
between men. The executioner is a man, and the mur- 
derer is a fellow-man, a neighbor whom he is bound to 
love. Society cannot change the relation, nullify the 
obligation, and authorize the doing of harm instead of 
good. 

The argument of this objection will prove too much. 
It will decide against all punishments as well as against 
capital punishment. A man has no right to fine, whip, 
or imprison his neighbor ; and therefore, according to 
the argument, society cannot authorize its officers to 
inflict these penalties. Now, since society cannot act 
as a whole, except by its officers, it will follow that 
society cannot inflict any penalty, and that government 
must cease. Premises which justify such a conclusion 
must contain some fallacy. 

The assumption that society cannot change the rela- 
tions between men needs limitation. Changes do take 
place in human relations, and society is frequently con- 
cerned in effecting them. Marriage and divorce change 
the relations between the parties ; and these changes, 
if legally made, require the aid and authority of society. 
When society appoints a civil ruler, it changes the rela- 
tion between him and the other members of the com- 
munity. The relation between an executioner and a 
murderer is not the simple relation which subsists 
between man and man ; but has been modified, partly 
by society, and partly by the criminal. Society, by 
appointing the officer, has given him a new relation to 
every member of the community; and the criminal, by 



CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 327 

his violation of law, has changed his relation to every 
member of the community. When a man, to preserve 
his own life, takes the life of an assailant, he does not 
act towards him in the simple relation of man to man. 
The assailant puts himself in the relation of a wild 
beast. He who has committed murder has made him- 
self a wild beast in relation to the community as a 
whole ; and the executioner, by the relation which 
society has instituted, is the point of contact where this 
wild beast and the power of society come in conflict. 
Such a change in the relation of the parties must be 
supposed when aft officer fines, whips, or imprisons a 
criminal ; and the change will equally justify the inflic- 
tion of the death-penalty, if the criminal deserves it. 

Objection 3. — The purpose of protecting society 
might be accomplished by confining the criminal ; and 
benevolence requires that punishment should be inflicted 
for the reformation of guilty men, not for their unneces- 
sary destruction. 

That the protection of society may be accomplished 
by confining the criminal, is an assumption that cannot 
be admitted without proof. The repetition of injury 
from the same individual may be prevented by this 
means : but society needs a shield to protect it from the 
first injury, as well as the second ; and from all evil- 
minded persons, as well as from the individual whom it 
has succeeded in arresting for crime already committed. 
This shield is supplied when rulers are "a terror to 
evil-doers;" and to render them terrible, the wisdom 
of God has placed the sword in their hands. It cannot 
be supposed that imprisonment, with bountiful mainte- 
nance, kind treatment, and benevolent effort to effect 
a reformation can present as great terror to evil-doers as 
the death-penalty. Hence, if this penalty is abolished, 



328 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

the divinely-appointed shield for the protection of society 
is thrown away. 

When appeals to benevolence are made in behalf of 
criminals, it ought not to be forgotten that the virtuous 
members of the community have at least equal claim to 
our benevolence. Forbearance and tenderness towards 
the guilty are not benevolence, if they multiply injuries, 
and expose the virtuous to evils from which society 
ought to protect them. Civil society is instituted for 
the protection of rights ; and the design of the institu- 
tion will be frustrated, if the protection of rights be 
sacrificed to the claims of a spurious benevolence, which 
removes needful restraints from the wicked. 

Objection 4. — The execution of criminals tends to 
multiply crimes, rather than prevent them. The multi- 
tude who gaze at the spectacle contemplate the culprit 
as the hero of the occasion, and are affected more with 
sympathy for him than with abhorrence of his crime, or 
dread of its penalty. 

If all that is assumed in this objection were admitted, 
the practical inference would be that executions ought 
not to be public. The question, whether they ought to 
be public or private, is wholly distinct from the question 
whether capital punishment is lawful. It may be a 
sufficient argument against the publicity of executions, 
if only a few of the spectators are affected in the manner 
described in the objection ; but that, in general, they 
who witness the scene are less averse than before to 
commit capital crime, may be safely denied. 

SECTION IV. WAR. 

The power of the sword would be of but little avail 
to the civil magistrate, if it were restricted to the inflic- 
tion of punishment on those who have been appre- 
hended, tried, and condemned. Government cannot be 



war. 329 

maintained without power to bring the violators of law 
to trial. They will not present themselves voluntarily 
in the courts of justice ; and they cannot be brought by 
the mere influence of moral motives. Physical power 
is indispensable ; and if government cannot use physi- 
cal power, its operations may be effectually resisted, by 
any band of lawless men who may choose to combine 
against it. And this physical force must include the 
power of the sword. Were the power of government 
so restricted, that it must always, in suppressing insur- 
rection and bringing the guilty to justice, abstain from 
shedding blood, gangs of depredators would establish 
their fortresses in the midst of the community, and sally 
forth with the arms of war, whenever they choose, to 
murder and plunder the peaceful citizens. The civil 
ruler who should brandish a reed before them, instead 
of being a terror to evil-doers, would be compelled to 
retire from the unequal contest. Iniquity, armed with 
weapons of death, would never yield to laws which could 
not be enforced with the power of the sword. 

In an intelligent and virtuous community, the execu- 
tion of the laws seldom requires an exertion of physical 
strength. The disturbers of public order are too few 
to hope that resistance of law could be successful. The 
unarmed officer, perhaps emaciated with disease, lays 
his hand on the sturdy culprit ; and, overawed, he 
yields submissively, and follows to prison, to await his 
trial. Why is this? The military power of the 
country sleeps behind this emaciated and feeble officer ; 
and the culprit knows that his whisper would awaken a 
host against which all resistance would be vain. This 
is the secret of his mysterious tameness. This secret 
influence, as a magic spell, attends the officers of justice 
everywhere; and without it they would, like Samson 
shorn of his locks, be as other men. Judges and jurors 
28* 



330 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

might announce their decisions from the courts of jus- 
tice ; but they would be as ineffectual to secure the 
rights of individuals, and the order of the community, 
as a proclamation issued by a crowd casually assembled 
in a market-place. The legislative assemblies might 
publish their statutes ; but they would go forth with as 
little power to control the actions of men, as a para- 
graph of a newspaper. Government, however peace- 
fully administered, is established on military power ; 
and, if this foundation be removed, the superstructure, 
if it could retain its form for a time, must be overthrown 
by the first tempest of insurrection. 

If the power of the sword may be used to suppress 
an insurrection of citizens, much more may it be used 
to repel an invasion of foreign enemies. If the life of 
a citizen murderer may be taken by the infliction of 
capital punishment, no sufficient reason can be assigned 
why the lives of foreign murderers should be spared. 
Government is established to protect the rights of the 
citizens; and the sword is put into the hands of. civil 
rulers for this purpose by the highest authority in the 
universe. It must, therefore, be right for government 
to use this instrument, w 7 hen necessary, against all who 
oppose the peace and order of the community, whether 
they be citizens or foreigners. The power of the sword 
must include the power of waging necessary war. 

The power of w T aging war, like that of imprisoning, 
or of inflicting capital punishment, belongs to the 
government, and not to the individual citizens ; and, for 
the right exercise of it, the government is responsible. 
All these powers may be abused ; and gross abuses of 
them by wicked governments have greatly multiplied 
the miseries of mankind. The innocent have often 
been shut up in dungeons, or cruelly put to death by 
public authority ; and ambitious chieftains have ex- 






WAR. 331 

tended the ravages of war through unoffending countries ; 
spreading everywhere terror, desolation, and death. 
For all these abuses of power, the rulers are respon- 
sible ; and the citizens also are responsible, so far as 
they appoint and sustain such rulers ; but we must not, 
to guard against such abuses, refuse to appoint any 
civil rulers ; or refuse to invest them, when appointed, 
with the powers necessary to sustain the government. 
Great as have been the miseries which mankind have 
suffered from abuse of these powers, the world, without 
any civil government, would have exhibited a scene of 
still greater miseries. The power of imprisoning, and 
the power of the sword, are both necessary to the sup- 
port of government; and, therefore, to the peace, 
order, and happiness of the community : but the public 
welfare, and the interests of private citizens, require 
that these powers should be committed to none but vir- 
tuous hands. 

The Holy Scriptures furnish proof that war may be 
lawful. God's ancient people waged numerous wars by 
express divine command ; and the pen of inspiration 
has commended valor in battle as a virtue : 1 and David 
gratefully acknowledged his military skill to be a gift 
from God. 2 A Roman military officer, having soldiers 
under him, was commended by Jesus Christ, as a most 
illustrious example of faith, without any exception 
being made to his military office. 3 Another Roman 

1 Judges vi. 12 ; Ps. Ix. 12 ; Heb. xi. 34. 2 Ps. cxliv. 1. 

3 Matt. viii. 9, 10. It has been objected to this argument that 
the silence of Christ would equally justify the idolatry of which 
this heathen centurion had doubtless been guilty. But he was not 
now an idolater ; and he did not present himself to Christ as such. 
He did present himself as a military officer in the words " having 
soldiers under me." If to these words he had added, and I worship 



332 POWEKS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

captain received special notice from heaven, and had 
the honor conferred on him of being the first uncircum- 
cised convert to Christianity. 1 But no intimation was 
given that the holding of a military commission was 
unacceptable to the Head of the church. But we have 
stronger proof from Scripture than that of mere silence. 
The forerunner of Christ was divinely commissioned to 
make ready a people for the Lord. Among those whom 
he baptized, were soldiers who desired him to instruct 
them in their duty. If the military service is unlawful, 
it was their duty to abandon it ; and it was John's duty 
to instruct them to this effect. But, on the contrary, 
he commanded, "Be content with your wages." 2 It 
would have been dishonest for them to receive wages, 
and not perform the service for which the wages were 
given. It is clear, therefore, that the Baptist's instruc- 
tions implied the lawfulness of their continuing to serve 
as soldiers. And if Christian men might lawfully be 
captains and soldiers under tyrannical Roman emperors, 
much more is it lawful to render military service under 
Christian rulers. 

Objection 1. — Natural religion condemns war, be- 
cause it lessens the amount of human happiness. Reve- 
lation decides that war proceeds from criminal lusts; 3 
and its moral character must agree with that of the 
passions from which it originates. 

Some persons have maintained that war, if not too 
frequent or too long protracted, promotes national 
prosperity, by cutting off a gangrenous species of popu- 
lation, and awakening patriotism, energies, and talents, 

the gods of my country, the objection before us would have been 
valid. But who can believe that, in this case, the Saviour would 
have commended him without excepting his idolatry ? 

1 Acts ch. x. 2 Luke iii. 14. 3 James iv. 1. 



war. 333 

which would otherwise have remained inactive and use- 
less. Our present purpose does not require that we 
should enter into a discussion of this subject. The 
miseries of war are many and great. It is an evil, a 
sore evil, and we prefer to admit the worst that may be 
said concerning its pernicious influence on human hap- 
piness. But what shall be the remedy for the evil? 
Shall we, to prevent a nation from suffering the cala- 
mities of war, deny to it the power of waging war ? It 
is a revolting spectacle when two boxers meet and 
mangle each other's bodies for a wager ; but shall we, 
to prevent the evil, deprive them of their physical 
strength ? The power of the sword is as necessary to 
the strength of a government as muscular power is to 
the strength of the physical frame. The power has 
been sadly abused, as muscular power also has been ; 
but to prevent the abuse by destroying the power, is as 
if we would prevent the crimes of mankind by annihi- 
lating the race. God has given men powers capable of 
abuse, and holds them responsible for their proper ex- 
ercise. This is his plan of moral discipline, and we 
contravene his plan if we take from the hand of the 
civil magistrate the sword which God has put into it. 
We must not abolish capital punishment because tyrants 
have abused the power of inflicting it, and have cut off 
men's heads in sport. We must not abolish physical 
strength because boxers have abused it to batter each 
others' bodies. And we must not abolish the war- 
making power because wicked rulers have abused it, 
and have by means of it greatly multiplied human woes. 
Virtue promotes human happiness, not by annihilating 
the power to do mischief, but by rectifying the dispo- 
sition. 

War, like capital punishment, can have no other 
necessity than that which arises from the crimes and 



334 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

evil passions of men. In every war, one at least of the 
parties must be guilty of wrong, and responsible for the 
horrible consequences. Nations are composed, for the 
most part, of wicked men; and the wars which blacken 
the pages of history, have been wicked wars. Our 
present purpose does not require that we should attempt 
to justify them, or extenuate their enormities. We 
inquire not whether the war-making power has been 
rightly used by wicked men, but whether it is possible 
to use it virtuously. Our forefathers, who engaged in 
the War of the American Revolution, were imperfect 
men ; and, with the motives which prompted their 
actions, we may admit that impure passions were 
mingled ; but who will maintain that they offended God 
and sinned against the interests of mankind, when they 
gave their blood to establish liberty in the land, and 
maintain the principles of liberty to which, in the face 
of the world, they pledged their lives ? If Joshua, and 
the Israelites whom he led into Canaan, can be justified 
for the wars which they waged, on the ground that they 
acted by Divine command, Washington and his compa- 
triots may be justified, on the ground that Divine Provi- 
dence manifestly called them to the bloody struggle for 
the benefit of future generations. 

Objection 2. — Although wars were waged by Divine 
command under the Old Testament dispensation, the 
Christian dispensation is characterized by peace. Christ 
is called the "Prince of Peace;" 1 his birth was an- 
nounced with the declaration, " On earth peace;" 2 and 
when his religion shall spread through the world, pro- 
phecy gives assurance that war will cease. 3 The pre- 
cepts of Christ expressly enjoin forgiveness of injuries, 
and forbid men to avenge themselves by doing harm to 
others. 

1 Isa. ix. 6. 2 Luke ii. 14. Isa. ii. 4. 



war. 335 

Christianity will abolish war, capital punishment, 
and imprisonment, by abolishing crime, not by denying 
to government the power to punish it. Nations will 
beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears 
into pruning-hooks, when all the people are righteous, 
and the knowledge of the Lord covers the earth, as 
the waters do the sea. But, until that happy day 
arrives, the wicked will do wickedly, and will need to 
be restrained by civil power. The religion of Christ 
is eminently pacific, and teaches that we ought, if 
possible, as much as in us lies, to live peaceably with 
all men ; but it does not create a possibility of universal 
peace, while wickedness abounds. The mission of 
Christ into the world was designed to make peace 
between God and men; and it will ultimately diffuse 
peace over the earth; but this was not its immediate 
effect. He said, " I came not to send peace, but a 
sword." 1 While crimes and injuries continue, the 
civil magistrate has his duty to perform ; and Chris- 
tianity does not release him from the obligation, or 
paralyze his arm. It teaches men to love their neigh- 
bors ; but this morality, though more fully unfolded in 
the gospel, was an essential principle of the Mosaic 
law. Even the sublime duty of doing good to enemies, 
was enforced in the old dispensation, 2 at the very time 
that wars were waged by divine command. What was 
consistent then, must be consistent now. 

Objection 3. — Governments cannot change the rela- 
tions which subsist between men. The armies which 
meet in hostile array, consist of men whom God has 
made of one blood, and whom he has commanded to 
love one another; and human governments cannot make 
it their duty to kill one another. 

1 Matt. x. 34. 2 Prov. xxv. 21. 



336 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

The assumption that governments cannot change the 
relations which subsist between men, was examined in 
its application to the relation between an executioner 
and a murderer, who is about to be hanged. In this 
case, the human government does not require its officer 
to disobey God ; but the whole proceeding has the 
divine sanction ; and this is equally true in the case of 
a just and necessary war, waged by an injured and op- 
pressed people, in the protection of their rights, and 
for the preservation of their lives. It is not necessary, 
in order to answer the objection, that we should attempt 
to justify unjust or unnecessary wars ; but if a single 
case of justifiable war has existed, or can even be sup- 
posed, the objection fails. 

Objection 4. — War, instead of securing the rights 
of any people, multiplies aggressions. Justice and 
kindness to all, will command the respect and approba- 
tion of all, and will insure protection more effectually 
than armies and navies. No nation in Europe could be 
led to battle against an innocent and unoffending people, 
known to be without warlike preparations, and unwilling 
to take arms. 

The founders of Pennsylvania entertained the views 
presented in this objection, and chose to expose them- 
selves to the hostility of American savages, rather than 
arm themselves for defence. The success of their 
policy has often been urged as an argument for its 
universal adoption. But the colony of Bassa Cove, 
established in Liberia, on the same principles, by the 
Pennsylvania Colonization Society, was almost annihi- 
lated by the neighboring tribes, whose attacks were 
invited by its defencelessness ; and it owed its preser- 
vation ultimately to the military preparations of neigh- 
boring colonies. A single example like this, demon- 
strates the impolicy, not to say the guilt, of neglecting to 



war. 337 

provide necessary means of defence. In the ordinary 
administration of government, the civil magistrate very 
rarely finds it necessary to use the sword against the 
citizens ; yet a wise people will have him armed with 
it ; and there is not a nation in Europe, whose citizens 
would feel safe from their fellow-citizens, if the power 
of the sword were taken from the hands of the rulers. 
If this power is necessary to protect citizens of the 
same nation from each other, much more is it necessary 
to protect them from neighboring nations. The suppo- 
sition that a nation is safer for being without a pro- 
tecting government, is a delusive fancy, and were it 
true, all civil government ought to be abolished ; and 
then the intercourse, not only of nations with nations, 
but also of citizens with citizens, would be rendered 
more just, because the rights of all would be without 
protection. 

Objection 5. — The precepts of the gospel, and the 
example of the first Christians, teach us to suffer 
patiently what the providence of God may bring upon 
us, and not to fight against wrong. Christianity gained 
its conquests by martyrdom, and not by carnal wea- 
pons. 

The first Christians obeyed the precepts of the gos- 
pel, when they submitted to the powers that be, even 
while suffering oppression from them ; and when they 
committed to civil government the protection of their 
persons and rights against individuals. In all this they 
acknowledged civil government to be an ordinance of 
God, and honored the divine institution. Paul procured 
the protection of a Roman officer against the forty con- 
spirators who sought his life, and accepted a military 
escort to save him from their malice. 1 He did not 
herein distrust the providence of God, but dutifully 

1 Acts xxiii. 17-31. 
29 



338 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

employed the means of defence which that providence 
had furnished for his protection. His religion was not 
a fanaticism which chose to suffer death, rather than 
invoke the protection which could be granted only by 
military power. 

SECTION V. SLAVERY. 1 

May be necessary. 

Government rightfully possesses the power to 
restrict the liberty of individuals, when it is necessary 
to prevent injury. Difficulty may arise in determining 
the cases to which this power ought to be applied, and 
the proper mode and extent of its application; but the 
right to exercise it, when necessary, can scarcely be 
questioned. The responsibility of protecting from 
injury, implies the possession of the power necessary 
for the purpose. An individual assaulted may, in self- 
defence, seize the arm of his assailant, and hold it as 
long as there is just ground to fear injury ; and govern- 
ment, charged with the responsibility of protecting the 
citizens, cannot have less power than the citizens them- 
selves. To deny that government has a right to exer- 
cise this power, is virtually to deny that government 
has a right to exist. 

The case to which this power has been judged to be 
specially applicable, is that of an alien people, not 
qualified for citizenship in the community where they 
dwell. Forms of government which impose but little 



1 For a thorough investigation of this subject, I take pleasure in 
referring to a work of great merit, " An Inquiry into the Law of 
Negro Slavery in the United States of America: To which is 
prefixed an Historical Sketch of Slavery. By Thomas R. Cobb, 
of Georgia." v 



SLAVERY. 339 

restraint on the liberties of the people, are not adapted 
to rude tribes of men ; and a government which ex- 
tends over distinct tribes, differing widely from each 
other in intellectual and moral condition, ought to 
adapt itself to the character of each. If the tribes 
occupied distinct territories, a republican govern- 
ment might be the best adapted to one of them, and 
a despotism to the other. It would then be unwise, 
if they are brought into the same territory, to institute 
the same form of government for them both. Hence, 
when two such tribes are in the providence of God 
brought together, wisdom and justice require that the 
government which is spread over them, and which more 
or less restricts the natural liberty of all, should make 
these restrictions greater for the less improved tribe, 
than for the other. 1 

All government is a bond. We call a government 
free, when the bondage which it imposes, is the least 
possible that can preserve peace and order in a highly 
civilized community. In despotic governments, the 
people have been the douAot, slaves, of the monarch, 
who, in many cases, has had the power to put them to 
death at his pleasure. This is most abject slavery. 

An alien tribe may be placed in a separate portion 
of the territory ; and may, as a whole, be under the 
direct restraint of government. So the Israelites in 
Egypt were placed in the land of Goshen, and were 

1 " The best form of government for any people is the best that its 
present moral and social condition renders practicable. A people 
may be so entirely surrendered to the influence of passion, and so 
feebly influenced by moral restraint, that a government which relied 
upon moral restraint could not exist for a day. In this case, a 
subordinate and inferior principle yet remains — the principle of 
fear ; and the only resort is to a government of force, or a military 
despotism." — Wayland's Moral Science, p. 354. 



340 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

under task -masters, 1 appointed over them by the king. 
This is political slavery. In other cases, the alien 
people have been distributed through the community, 
and have been divided among the families, in a relation 
of subjection to the head of the family, as their master. 
This is domestic slavery. The master, in this arrange- 
ment, like the task-master in the former, derives his 
authority from the government ; and the slave is kept 
in subjection to him by the power of the government. 
In this view, he is a civil officer, and has sometimes 
possessed the power of life and death over the slaves, 
like the supreme ruler in a despotic government. 

In domestic slavery, the common method of distri- 
buting the alien people among the families of the com- 
munity, has been by sale. The master, by purchase, 
becomes the proprietor of his slave. This relation 
modifies that of task-master, or civil despot ; and the 
incorporation of the slave into the family, gives a favor- 
able opportuity for the formation and exercise of similar 
affections, to those which appropriately belong to the 
parental and filial relations. The master becomes the 
friend and protector of his slave ; and kindness on the 
one part, and fidelity on the other, have often marked 
the relation — and would always attend it, if the parties 
were duly virtuous. In these particulars, domestic 
slavery has an advantage, in respect of benevolence, 
over bondage in the other form. 

When men are imprisoned for crime, government 
claims the right of requiring that they shall labor — as 
in the case of our penitentiaries. The right to make 
this requirement, applies equally to slaves. Govern- 
ments are maintained at expense ; and a despotic govern- 
ment, in which strong military force is needed, requires 

1 Ex. i. 11. 



SLAVERY. 341 

more expense than a free government ; and hence, a 
rude people must pay more for being governed, than a 
people who need less restraint. It would be unjust for 
an alien people to enjoy all the benefits of a govern- 
ment to which they are not adapted, at the expense of 
the intelligent and polished people who have instituted 
it for themselves. And, moreover, were such a people 
not required to labor, the restraint on their personal 
liberty, which their condition requires, could not readily 
be imposed ; and the power of government would need 
to be exercised in some other way, less favorable to 
their good, and to the public peace. If that condition 
seems unequal, it should be remembered that the 
arrangements of Providence have always rendered the 
condition of the intelligent and refined more advan- 
tageous than that of the ignorant and rude. If it be 
said that benevolence ought to assign to them a position 
in society above that to which they are adapted, the 
reply is, that civil governments were not instituted to 
dispense benevolence, but to protect rights. Benevo- 
lence is an individual, rather than a political virtue. 
Civil government cannot undertake to effect a change 
in the character and habits of the slaves ; and to place 
them in a higher position, without adapting them to it, 
would not be benevolence, either to them or to the com- 
munity. 

The power of the sword, whether over citizens or 
aliens, extends to both life and liberty. Over citizens, 
it affects life by capital punishment, and liberty by im- 
prisonment. Over aliens, it affects life by war, and 
liberty by subjugation or slavery. As the power of 
governments became exercised with more mildness, im- 
prisonment was substituted, in many cases, for capital 
punishment ; and slavery, for exterminating war. With- 
out doubt slavery often originated in wars which were 
29* 



342 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

unjust and cruel ; but it was an abatement of their 
cruelty. 

Who must judge. 

We have seen that it may be necessary to restrict 
personal liberty, for the sake of protecting rights, and 
securing order in the community ; and that the power 
of restricting belongs to government. Government is 
an agent of society ; and the right to judge when 
government should so restrict personal liberty, belongs 
properly to society. Like the power to take vengeance, 
it does not belong to individuals ; and the individual 
who enslaves a fellow-man, is a " man stealer," 1 in the 
language of Scripture, and violates moral obligation. 

The governments of society have frequently been less 
free than the character of the people required ; and a 
degree of bondage has been imposed, which was not 
necessary for public good. But, notwithstanding the 
errors which may have been committed, the right to 
organize its government belongs to society ; and, there- 
fore, society must judge in what cases personal liberty 
ought to be restricted, and the proper mode and extent 
of the restriction. 

Relation of Master. 

From what has been said, it is manifest that no man 
can justly claim from society the unrestricted enjoy- 
ment of personal liberty. A well-regulated society will 
not impose unnecessary restrictions, and will protect 
the right from the encroachment of individuals. But, 
as each individual is bound to yield his personal liberty 
to the necessary restrictions which society may impose, 
so he is bound to respect such restrictions, when imposed 

1 1 Tim. i. 10. 



SLAVERY. 343 

on others. The individual who forcibly enslaves a free 
man, is guilty of a crime against society, as well as 
against the individual enslaved. When the regulations 
of society have put a man in the condition of a slave, 
he who sustains to him the relation of master, is not 
chargeable with criminal violation of personal liberty, 
and is not bound to emancipate him. A military 
commander has no right to release a soldier from the 
restraints of military service ; a jailor has no right to 
release from confinement a prisoner whom society has 
committed to his charge ; and, on the same principle, a 
master violates his obligation to society, if he emanci- 
pates one who, according to the regulations of society, 
ought to be held in bondage. 

In opposition to the conclusion which we have 
reached, many persons maintain that the holding of 
slaves is sinful ; and that masters are therefore under 
moral obligation to emancipate them. This question 
is one of great practical importance to conscientious 
Christian masters in the southern portion of the United 
States, where slavery is established by law. 

It has been shown that a state, consisting of persons 
qualified for a high degree of civil liberty, if it has in 
its midst an alien people who are not thus qualified, and 
whose unrestricted freedom would be injurious to the 
peace and happiness of the community, has a right to 
hold them in bondage by military force. This right 
our Federal Constitution appears to recognise fully as 
belonging to the states of our Union ; nearly half of 
the states now exercise it, and others have claimed and 
exercised it in time past, where slavery has since been 
abolished. If this right of a state be admitted, argu- 
ment is scarcely needed to prove that individual citizens, 
under whose custody the social regulations have placed 
the enslaved people, may lawfully hold them in the 



344 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

relation which these regulations have established. The 
will of the society needs to be obeyed, unless it can be 
shown to be contrary to the will of God ; and, to learn 
the will of God on the subject, our best appeal is to the 
Holy Scriptures. 

In the first book of the Bible the origin of slavery is 
thus recorded : " Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of ser- 
vants shall he be unto his brethren." 1 This curse was 
denounced by the patriarch Noah, because of a crime 
committed by his son Ham, the father of Canaan ; and 
it was probably recorded in part for the encouragement 
of the Israelites in their wars against the descendants 
of Canaan. The curse of Ham's transgression fell 
heavily on the Canaanites ; but it was not confined to 
this branch of his family. The enslaved negroes in our 
midst are his descendants, and their condition agrees 
with this ancient prediction. The fact that the slavery 
of Ham's descendants was predicted, does not prove 
that the enslaving of them was right ; for the crucifixion 
of Christ was predetermined in the counsels of God, 
and foretold by ancient prophets ; and yet the agents 
in effecting it were held guilty for the act, which they 
are said to have perpetrated with "wicked hands." 2 
But the words of Noah are more than a mere prediction. 
They are a denunciation of God's displeasure at the 
sin of Ham, and an explanation of the degradation 
which has fallen on his posterity. 

As the sons of Adam are bound to submit patiently 
to the curse which requires them to earn their bread 
in the sweat of their face, so the sons of Ham are 
bound to submit patiently to the curse which has doomed 
them to bondage. To the sons of Adam, who come 
into the world depraved, the labor, which the curse 

1 Gen. ix. 25. 2 Acts ii. 23. 



SLAVERY. 345 

denounced, is in fact a blessing ; and its beneficial 
effects on the fallen race demonstrate that the offended 
Judge in the midst of wrath remembered mercy. So 
the bondage which Ham's descendants endure in our 
land is overruled by the wisdom and benevolence of 
Providence to their good. An alleviation of the curse 
which has fallen on them consists in the adaptedness of 
their mental constitution to endure the degradation of 
slavery; and they have, therefore, been preserved from 
the waste and prospective annihilation to which the 
Indian tribes of America have been subjected. The 
Africans have multiplied in their slavery; have been 
better provided for than they would have been in the 
land of their forefathers ; have been protected from the 
tyranny of oppressive kings, and the miseries of deso- 
lating wars ; and, above all, have been brought under 
the influence of the gospel, in circumstances far more 
favorable to their civilization and evangelization than 
heathen nations generally enjoy. 

But these benefits, it may be said, were not contem- 
plated by those who enslaved them. Granted ; but 
they ought to be contemplated by every wise and be- 
nevolent friend of the African race. He may learn 
from the prophetical curse denounced by Noah, that 
their slavery is a part of the mysterious plan according 
to which God is governing the world ; and he will be 
careful not rashly to oppose this plan, lest haply he be 
found fighting against God. The benevolent design of 
Providence in bringing the sons of Africa into bondage 
in the United States, is too manifest to be misinter- 
preted. It may be regarded as a stupendous missionary 
movement, accomplishing more in the evangelizing of 
the heathen than all the missionary operations of 
Christian churches throughout the world. Let no man 
oppose this movement by forbidding the holding of 



846 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

slaves, until he can produce divine authority for the 
prohibition. 

The book of Genesis presents a further account of 
slavery in the history of Abraham, the friend of God, 
and father of the faithful. This great and good man 
was commanded to circumcise the servants born in his 
house, and bought with money; 1 and, in the solemn 
covenant transaction in which this command was given, 
there is no intimation that the existence of slavery in 
his family was displeasing to God. What was the pre- 
cise extent of Abraham's power over these servants, we 
have not the means .of knowing. In many countries 
the power of life and death has been held by kings 
over their subjects, and by masters over their slaves. 
If one of Abraham's servants had perpetrated a crimo 
worthy of death, what would have been the process of 
his trial and condemnation, we know not ; but we 
know that the patriarch so far claimed a right over the 
lives of his servants that he employed them to the num- 
ber of three hundred and eighteen 2 in military service 
against the five kings that invaded the country which 
he inhabited. 

Numerous passages of the Old Testament contain 
historic references to slavery. In the law given by 
Moses, it was expressly provided that the Hebrews 
might take to themselves bond-men from the neighbor- 
ing heathen nations ; 3 and in the decalogue, designed 
for universal and perpetual obligation, the relation of 
master and servant is as clearly recognised as that of 
husband and wife, or of parent and child ; and the 
master's right of property in his servant is not only re- 
cognised, but also protected even against covetousness. 4 

In the New Testament we have frequent allusions to 

1 Gen. xvii. 13. 2 Gen. xiv. 14. 3 Lev. xxv. 44. 4 Ex. xx. 10, 17. 



SLAVERY. 347 

slavery, without any prohibition of it, or intimation of 
its unlawfulness. The Roman centurion, whose faith 
Jesus commended in the words, " I have not found so 
great faith, no, not in Israel," 1 was a slaveholder, as 
appears from the words, " My servant (slave) lieth at 
home sick of the palsy." 2 The Roman laws invested the 
master with the power of life and death over his slaves ; 
and the fact that this centurion held slaves under this 
law did not, in the estimation of the Saviour, render 
him unworthy of the high commendation which was 
bestowed on him, and which has been recorded for .our 
instruction. If the holding of slaves is sinful, it would 
have been a suitable occasion for our Lord when com- 
mending this slaveholder so highly, to have instructed 
his disciples to avoid imitation of him in this particular. 
But he gave no such caution ; and, further, no such 
caution can be found anywhere in the New Testament. 
Slaves are, in the New Testament, commanded to 
obey their masters, as an act of obedience to God, just 
as children are commanded to obey their parents, and 
subjects to obey their rulers. 3 Among the masters who 
were to be obeyed, some are called "believing mas- 
ters," and these were to be accounted "worthy of all 
honor." 4 It is hence clear that there were slaveholders 
in the apostolic churches, and that these men, in view 
of the relation which they held as masters, were, by 
apostolic instruction, to be accounted worthy, not of 
reproach and excommunication, but of honor. It de- 
serves to be remarked that Paul has added to his 
instructions on this point these significant words : " If 
any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome 

1 Matt. viii. 5-13. 2 Matt. viii. 6, compared with verse 9, and 
Luke vii. 2, 3, 8, 10, in which places the more definite word 
6ovM is used. 3 Eph. vi. 5-9 ; Col. hi. 22-25. * 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2. 



348 POWERS OP CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to 
the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is 
proud, knowing nothing." 1 

The Scriptures furnish a yet stronger argument for 
the lawfulness of slaveholding, in the fact that they 
instruct masters how to exercise authority over their 
slaves. 2 If the relation of master were unlawful, to 
instruct them how to exercise the authority of master, 
would be to instruct them how to sin. The Scriptures 
nowhere instruct us in what manner we ought to com- 
mit idolatry, perjury, adultery, theft, or extortion. 
They nowhere tell those who, in violation of the ma- 
trimonial law, live in unchaste intercourse with each 
other, how they must act towards each other in the un- 
lawful relation which they have assumed. The mode 
of Scriptural instruction in all such cases is, " Let him 
that stole steal no more." 3 So, if the holding of slaves 
were unlawful, the command would have been, « Cease 
from the sin of slaveholding ; at once emancipate your 
slaves." It may be objected that this would have dis- 
turbed the arrangements of society, and excited so 
great prejudice against the gospel, as to obstruct its 
progress. And what then ? Did the apostles of Christ 
make compromise with sin that the gospel might spread 
without obstruction ? But, say some, they thought it 
wiser to leave the principles of the gospel to extirpate 
slavery gradually, than to attempt its immediate extir- 
pation by commanding universal emancipation. If so, 
we ought to imitate their example. They tore up the 
very foundations of heathen society, and turned the 
world upside down, by preaching that men should 
abandon idolatry, and all vice, and repent and turn to 
God ; but they tolerated slavery for the time at least ; 

1 1 Tim. vi. 3, 4. 2 Eph. vi. 9 ; Col. iv. 1. 3 Eph. iv. 28. 



SLAVERY. 349 

admitted slaveholders into the churches, and taught 
them how to act the part of masters, without intimating 
to them at what time, or in what circumstances eman- 
cipation should be effected. The conclusion is unavoid- 
able that the wisdom from above, by which the apostles 
acted, did not account the holding of slaves sinful. 

Another step in the argument still remains. As if in 
foresight of the disquietudes which the slavery question 
has engendered, a very brief epistle, containing little 
else than an apostolic decision of the question, has been 
preserved, and now constitutes a part of the sacred 
canon. Onesimus, an unconverted slave, ran away from 
his Christian master Philemon ; and, in a distant country, 
was converted under the preaching of Paul. In this 
case, the question was presented for the apostle's de- 
cision, whether the absent master had a right to the 
services of his fugitive slave. If no such right exists, 
the servant was, of right, free ; and, being now far from 
the master's power, no command to emancipate him was 
necessary, and no disturbance to society would have 
been caused by permitting him to enjoy his freedom. 
Paul has said to slaves, " If thou mayest be made free, 
use it rather;" 1 and, since Onesimus was now in fact 
free, if it had been right for him to continue free, the 
apostle would have decided that he ought to prefer 
freedom, and not return again to bondage. Why, then, 
did he send him back to the bondage from which he 
had fled ? and why has this brief epistle, containing the 
apostle's decision of the question, been transmitted to 
us, as a part of the Holy Scriptures, for our instruction 
in righteousness ? In the few lines of this inspired 

1 1 Cor. vii. 21. The interpretation which supposes the pronoun 
" it" to stand for the noun bondage, does not appear to me to give 
the true sense of this passage. 
30 



350 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

letter, the small still voice of God comes down to us, 
through the lapse of centuries, commanding the tumults 
of the slavery agitation to cease ; and directing us to 
admit the rights of the master, and appeal to his 
benevolence for any improvement in the condition of 
his slave. 1 

The arguments on the other side of the question will 
now be considered. 

Argument 1. — The passages of Scripture which have 
been quoted, speak of servants, not of slaves ; and, 
therefore, give no countenance to slavery. 

1 The following extracts from Scott's Commentary, give a correct 
view of the design and import of this epistle. 

" When the apostle was imprisoned at Rome, Onesimus, a slave 
of Philemon, having, as it is generally thought, been guilty of 
some dishonesty, left his master and fled to that city, though at 
the distance of several hundred miles. When he came thither, 
curiosity, or some similar motive, induced him to attend on St. 
Paul's ministry, which it pleased God to bless for his conversion. 
After he had given very satisfactory proof of a real change, and 
manifested an excellent disposition by his suitable behavior, 
which had greatly endeared him to the apostle, he judged it proper 
to send him back to his master, to whom he wrote this epistle, in 
order to procure Onesimus a more favorable reception than he 
otherwise could have expected. 

" ' Onesimus' signifies profitable ; in allusion to which the 
apostle allowed that he had not formerly deserved that name, 
having been ' unprofitable / ... so that he was become ' profit- 
able,' both to Philemon and the apostle. He was prepared to be 
a useful servant to the former. 

" Onesimus was Philemon's legal property; and St. Paul had 
required and prevailed with Onesimus to return to him .... 
He would gladly have kept him at Ptome, to minister to him in 
his confinement, which Onesimus would willingly have done . . . 
But he would not do anything of this kind without his [Philemon's] 
consent .... He knew that Philemon would no longer consider 
Onesimus merely as a slave, but view him as ' above a slave,' even 
as a brother beloved." 



SLAVERY. 351 

The Scriptures speak of hired servants, and also of 
bond-servants, bond-men, or slaves. The latter class 
of servants is intended, in all the passages relied on in 
the preceding arguments, as appears from the words 
employed in the Greek text, and especially from the 
word douXoq, which signifies definitely a slave, one who 
serves at the will of another. 

Argument 2. — In slavery men are treated as brutes. 
Brutes may be made subservient to the happiness of 
their owners : but slaves are men — and all men have a 
right to use their bodies and minds for the promotion of 
their own happiness. Slavery invests the master with 
the right to govern the minds and bodies of as many as 
he can, by purchase, bring under his power, and to use 
them for the promotion of his happiness, in disregard 
of their interests for time and eternity. These con- 
siderations prove slavery to be unlawful. 

Human beings have, in common with brutes, bodies 
which are capable of performing labor, and which need 
food for their support, and shelter for defence from cold 
and storm. The righteous man will regard the life of 
his beast ; and, while he requires its labor, will not 
overtask it, and will give it the needed food and shelter. 
It may be benevolent for him to extend like treatment 
to a poor fellow-man, to whom it may be a great favor 
to give food, raiment, and comfortable habitation, to 
himself, his wife, and children, in return for his labor. 
If this were all that is intended, when it is said that 
slaves are treated as brutes, the comparison, so well 
calculated to bring odium on slavery, would be harm- 
less. 

But it is said that the master may require the service 
of his slaves, for the promotion of his own happiness 
exclusively, and in disregard of their interests for time 
and. eternity. This may be equally true, and is equally 



352 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

reprehensible, when men employ a poor laborer from 
day to day, for their own convenience and advantage, 
in disregard of his interests. The poor man's life may 
be spent in labor for them, and his strength exhausted 
by their oppressive exactions, as eifectually as if he 
were a slave. Masters are bound to give to their 
slaves that which is equal, and to promote their inte- 
rests for time and eternity. They may neglect their 
duty, as fathers may neglect their duty to their chil- 
dren ; but the relation which a master sustains, binds 
him to the duty ; and in this respect compares favor- 
ably with the relation which the employer holds to the 
poor laborer whose services he receives for stipulated 
wages. The neglect of the master, like the neglect of 
the father, is no valid argument against the lawfulness 
of the relation. 

To whatever corner of the earth, or page of its 
history, we turn our eyes, we shall see misery abound- 
ing. Sin has filled the world with woe. Evil-doers 
have rendered it necessary that the power of the sword 
should restrain them ; and when the sword has been 
held by wicked hands, the heart of humanity sickens, 
at the thought of the sorrows which have been endured. 
Ambitious conquerors have drenched the earth with 
blood, and cruel tyrants have wrung the hearts of their 
subjects with anguish. The seemingly peaceful arrange- 
ment by which property is divided among its owners, 
becomes the occasion, even in a land so blest as ours, 
of fraud and extortion. The man of wealth buys, at 
the least possible price, the services of his poor neigh- 
bor, in unfeeling disregard of his interests, and with 
far less concern for the wife and children dependent on 
the wages received, than for the horses which draw his 
splendid carriage. It is not slavery, but human depra- 
vity, which treats men as brutes. They who purchase 



SLAVERY. 353 

the life-time service of a poor man, day by day, may as 
effectually brutalize him, as he who purchases it at 
once, and when sickness and old age come upon him, 
instead of providing for him as if he were a slave, may 
leave him to die unpitied as a brute. 

If all the relations in human society, which have 
been the occasions of crime and suffering, were to be 
banished from the world, not one would be left, and it 
would be necessary for God to reform the whole system 
of his government over the world. But the wisdom of 
his system must not be estimated by man's abuse of it. 
Men to whose hands the sword of government has been 
intrusted, are powers ordained of God for good. 1 
Their authority, when exercised according to the will 
of God, is a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them 
that do well. Such authority in the hands of David, 
made him a blessing to ancient Israel; and such autho- 
rity in the hands of Washington, made him the de- 
liverer and father of his country. So the proper exer- 
cise of a master's authority blesses his slaves. He 
receives the aliens, and makes them of his household, 
treating them, not as brutes, but rather as sons. He 
protects them from fraud and violence, provides for 
their wants, teaches them, by wise and kind discipline, 
habits of industry, as useful to themselves as to him, 
and instructs them in the way to heaven. Such a 
master is indeed "worthy of all honor." 

Argument 3. — The services of the day-laborer are 
purchased with his consent ; but the slave has never 
consented to the authority which his master claims. 
All just government derives its powers from the consent 
of the governed ; and, therefore, that of a master over 
his slaves is without right. 

1 Rom. xiii. 1-4. 
30* 



354 POWERS OP CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

The day-laborer would not consent to toil for his 
scanty wages, if he had free access to the store-house 
of his opulent neighbor; but if he takes the bread 
which another man has hoarded up, he is charged with 
theft, and punished by law; and if he resists the exe- 
cution of the law, it is at the peril of his life. He 
consents to toil, therefore, because he fears the sword 
which hangs over him. The slave consents to toil, 
because he fears the rod. Neither of them has con- 
sented to put the sword or the rod into the hand of 
him who wields it; and society does not ask the con- 
sent of either. The arrangements of society for the 
distribution of property and power, were made before 
either of them was born. If no government can be 
just but that which has the consent of the individual 
governed, all coercion will be unrighteous ; and all 
restraint on evil-doers will be a violation of their rights. 

Argument 4. — Society cannot change the relations 
naturally subsisting between individuals. The African 
is my neighbor, my brother ; and if I have no right to 
enslave my brother, society cannot give me a right to 
hold him in bondage. 

This argument, if admitted, would prove too much. 
The sheriff, whose duty it becomes to hang a criminal, 
sees in that criminal a neighbor, a brother, whom he has 
no right to seize and hang at his pleasure. The jailor, 
when required to keep a fellow-man in prison, sees in 
him a neighbor, a brother, whom he has no right to 
deprive of personal liberty. The soldier, who is ordered 
to battle, sees brother men before him, whose blood, he, 
as an individual, has no right to shed. Now, if the 
argument is valid, the sheriff must not hang, the jailor 
must not detain in prison, and the soldier must not kill. 
But the argument is fallacious. We have shown that 
society has a right to inflict capital punishment, to im- 



SLAVERY. 355 

prison offenders, and to wage war. Society is not a 
mere abstraction, but a combination of human beings ; 
and the rights of society must in some way appertain 
to the individuals composing it. If society has a right 
to perform an act, it cannot be wrong for any and 
every individual in the society to participate in it. If 
society has a right to command the act, some one has 
a right to obey. If society ordains the existence of 
slavery, he who opposes its existence, offends against 
the rights of society, as truly as he who opposes capi- 
tal punishment, imprisonment, or war, which society 
has ordered. 

Argument 5. — The precept, " Thou shalt love thy 
neighbor as thyself," requires us to cherish as tender 
and delicate a respect for the right which the meanest 
individual possesses over the means of happiness bestowed 
upon him by God, as we cherish for our own right over 
our own means of happiness. The principle of the pre- 
cept is absolutely subversive of the principle of slavery. 
That of the one is entire equality of right ; that of the 
other, is the entire absorption of the rights of one in 
the rights of the other. 

In this, which is the chief argument from the Scrip- 
tures against slavery, there is a fallacy. The extent 
of rights is confounded with their sacredness. The 
precept requires us to cherish a tender and delicate 
respect for the rights of the meanest individual ; but it 
does not require us to make his rights equal in extent 
to our own. On the contrary, the very terms in which 
the argument is stated, imply that the means of happi- 
ness bestowed on him by the Creator, may not be equal 
to those bestowed on us. It is not true, that the prin- 
ciple of the precept is equality in the extent of rights ; 
and the principle of slavery does not oppose a tender 
and delicate respect for the rights of the slave. The 
two are therefore not inconsistent with each other. A 



356 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

tender and delicate respect for the rights of woman, 
is not inconsistent with the fact, that, whether in the 
married or the single state, her rights are not perfectly 
commensurate with those of the other sex. 

The principle of slavery is not an absolute absorption 
of the rights of the slave in those of the master. Were 
this true, no master would be punishable for the murder 
of his slave. Slaves have their rights ; and the law 
and public opinion, as well as the Scripture precept 
cited in the argument, require these rights to be 
respected. 

Argument 6. — Another precept of Scripture enjoins, 
" All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to 
you, do ye even so to them." Now, the master would 
not desire to be held in bondage by his slave ; and, 
therefore, if he holds the slave in bondage, he violates 
this precept. 

This argument will prove too much, if its application 
of the precept be admitted to be just. The sheriff who 
is about to hang a murderer, may argue, were I in the 
murderer's place, I would not desire to be hung. The 
jailor who is about to turn the key of the prison-door, 
may argue, were I in the place of the prisoner, I 
would desire the prison-door to be left open. That can- 
not be a correct application of the Scripture precept, 
w T hich would make these officers neglect duties so impor- 
tant to society ; and equally wrong is its application to 
the case of the slave. The murderer, the imprisoned 
felon, and the discontented slave, may all desire that 
liberty should be proclaimed through the land ; but the 
Scripture precept does not require that they should 
therefore be turned loose on society. It requires that 
we divest ourselves of selfishness, in deciding how we 
should act towards others. This is the manifest spirit 
and intent of the precept. It limits our wishes on the 



SLAVERY. 357 

one hand, and our actions on the other, to what is right 
and reasonable according to subsisting relations- In 
view of the mischiefs which would result, I ought not 
to desire that the murderer, the felon, and the slave, 
should be turned loose on society, even if I myself 
were the person ; and therefore it is not my duty to 
turn such persons loose, if society has intrusted them 
to my charge. 

Argument 7. — The influence of slavery is unfavorable 
to virtue, both on the master and the slave ; and unfa- 
vorable also to national prosperity. From its injurious 
tendency, natural religion rightly infers that it is con- 
trary to the will of God. 

Relations and conditions in human life, which are in 
themselves lawful, frequently become the occasions of 
crime and consequent suffering. A wise and virtuous 
man prayed to God : " Give me neither poverty nor 
riches ; feed me with food convenient for me ; lest I be 
full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord ? or lest 
I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in 
vain." 1 Wealth and poverty are not crimes, but they 
may become the occasions of crime ; and if natural reli- 
gion should, on Agur's authority, or that of experience, 
account them unfavorable to virtue, and therefore crim- 
inal in the sight of God, it would err greatly in its final 
conclusion. 

In the Southern States a large part of the population 
consists of negroes, who are naturally without enter- 
prise, indolent and improvident. Among the white 
inhabitants, many are wealthy planters, whose affluence 
enables them to live in ease and pleasure. In such a 
population it would be unreasonable to expect so great 
a prevalence of virtue as in a community where the 

1 Prov. xxx. 8, 0. 



358 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

extremes of wealth and poverty are unknown. And 
from a community of the latter kind may be reasonably 
expected a larger amount of productive industry, and 
consequently of national prosperity. If, in comparing 
the States which exclude slavery with those in which it 
exists, less of virtue and general prosperity is found 
in the latter, it is unjust to account slavery the only 
cause, and the criminal cause, of the deficiency. Why 
should slavery be held responsible, rather than the 
diversity of population ? and why should one be accounted 
a criminal cause, and not the other? 

When natural religion would learn the moral cha- 
racter of slavery from its effects in the Southern States, 
it should inquire what would be the condition of these 
States, with their present population, if slavery were 
abolished. Would there be more virtue, more pros- 
perity? At present, if we cannot claim full equality 
with our northern brethren in these particulars, we may, 
without immodest boasting, claim to surpass many 
countries on earth in which domestic slavery does not 
exist. Shall we infer that these countries fall below 
us because they have not the institution of slavery? 
This would be a legitimate inference, if the argument 
which we are considering were valid. But, without 
ascribing to slavery our superiority to these countries, 
we do attribute to it much of the virtue and prosperity 
with which we are blessed. Virtue and piety are not 
unknown among us. We have slaveholders who re- 
semble Abraham, or Philemon, or that other slaveholder 
of whom Christ said, " I have not found so great faith, no 
not in Israel." Not only are many slaveholders bright 
examples of piety, but the religion of Christ has blessed 
thousands of the slave population, and made them happy 
in their bondage as the Lord's freemen and heirs of 
his heavenly kingdom. With religion and virtue, we 



SLAVERY. 359 

enjoy tranquillity and prosperity beyond what could be 
hoped for with our present population, if our present 
social organization were dissolved. 

In judging what our condition would be if slavery 
were abolished, we are not left to abstract reasoning. 
The effects of the Emancipation Act in the British West 
Indies have demonstrated that, in such a population, 
slavery is far more favorable to virtue and national 
prosperity than emancipation. 1 If natural religion will 
compare the present with the former condition of these 
British colonies, she may rightly infer that slavery is 
not contrary to the will of God. 

Argument 8. — The law of Moses made effectual pro- 
vision for the abolition of slavery, by commanding that a 
fugitive slave should not be delivered to his master. It 
is impossible for slavery to be continued where this law 
is enforced ; and we have, therefore, in this precept, 
direct proof that the continuance of slavery is contrary 
to the will of God. 

The law referred to reads thus : " Thou shalt not 
deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped 
from his master unto thee : he shall dwell with thee, 
even among you, in that place which he shall choose in 
one of thy gates, where it liketh him best ; thou shalt 
not oppress him." 2 This passage, like many others in 
the laws of Moses, applies the singular pronoun thou 
to the Hebrew nation collectively considered. That 
the word is so applied in this instance, is too manifest 
to admit a doubt. The phrase "with thee" is inter- 

1 A statement of facts on this subject may be found in the work 
of Mr. Cobb before referred to ; and also, together with an able 
discussion of the slavery question, in an Essay on Liberty and 
Slavery, by Albert Taylor Bledsoe, LL.D., Professor of Mathe- 
matics in the University of Virginia. 

2 Deut. xxiii. 15, 16. 



360 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

preted by an additional phrase "among you;" the first 
referring to the nation as a whole, and the second to 
the individuals composing it. This fact unequivocally 
determines the sense which the singular pronoun here 
obtains. Moreover, it was commanded that the fugitive 
slave should be permitted to choose the place of his 
abode, but it cannot be supposed that every individual 
Israelite was bound to permit fugitive slaves to quarter 
themselves on the grounds of his private estate at their 
pleasure. The phrase " in one of thy gates where it 
liketh him best," fixes the limits of his choice to an 
abode somewhere within the national territory ; and, 
therefore, the pronoun "thy" is applied to the entire 
nation. 

Let us now examine the first clause in this law — 
" Thou shalt not deliver to his master a slave that is 
escaped from his master unto thee." If the pronoun 
"thee" signifies the whole Hebrew nation, who is the 
slave that is escaped from his master unto the Hebrew 
nation ? Manifestly he is a fugitive from some other 
nation. Among the heathen, where masters had the 
power of life and death, slaves were treated with 
cruelty. To these the land of Israel was a desirable 
asylum, in which they were free from oppression, and 
favored with opportunity to learn and practise the true 
religion. Such an asylum the land was constituted by 
virtue of the precept under consideration. But like 
reasons did not apply to the case of fugitives from one 
tribe of Israel to another ; and the law was not de- 
signed for this case. The Mosaic code recognised the 
slaves of an Israelite as his "possession," 1 his "inhe- 
ritance," 2 his " money;" 3 and it failed to protect his 
acknowledged rights, if it forbade them to be delivered 

1 Lev. xxv. 45. 2 Lev. xxv. 46. 3 Ex. xxi. 21. 



SLAVERY. 361 

to him, and commanded all persons to permit them to 
run at large, and choose their place of abode wherever 
it liked them best. 

Duty to Slaves. 

A civil society is under obligation to protect the 
rights of the citizens, for whose benefit the social 
organization is instituted; but it ought not to be in- 
different to the rights of others. It should deal justly 
with all neighboring nations ; and it is not less bound 
to deal justly with an alien tribe that may be within its 
territory. Though the government which it institutes 
is primarily designed for the citizens, yet the alien 
people who are necessarily brought under it, have rights 
which ought to be respected. Society is bound to 
respect these rights — 1. By a just arrangement of its 
relation to the alien people ; and 2. By a just treatment 
of them in this relation. 

I. Society is bound to make a just arrangement of 
its relation to an alien people who may be within its 
territory. 

Justice does not require that these people should be 
admitted to citizenship, under a government to which 
they are not adapted. Since governments retain much 
of the original patriarchal character, it may be ques- 
tioned whether one tribe of men are bound to admit 
individuals of another tribe to citizenship, even if 
equally qualified with themselves. There may be con- 
siderations which render an amalgamation of races 
inexpedient, apart from any regard to their fitness for a 
like form of government. But the case admits no 
question, if the alien people are totally unqualified for 
citizenship. A government instituted for their exclu- 
sive benefit, would need strong coercive power to pro- 
tect them from the aggressions of each other ; and 
31 



362 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

much more is a strong coercive power over them neces- 
sary, to restrain them from aggressions on the rights of 
opulent neighbors. Such coercion constitutes bondage 
in some form ; and it is better for the parties con- 
cerned, that the character and extent of that bondage 
should be accurately defined, according to the dictates 
of wisdom and justice. 

In past ages, despotism has prevailed among the 
nations, and the general tendency has been towards 
oppression of the subjects ; but at the present time a 
disposition is evinced, in many countries, to burst the 
shackles of their thraldom, and to establish free govern- 
ments. The success of republicanism in the United 
States of America has doubtless contributed much to 
this tendency. France has felt the influence, and more 
than once has attempted to institute a government too 
free for the character of its people. England has felt 
its influence, and liberated her slaves in the West Indies. 
It is not surprising that the very country from which 
this influence has spread among the nations, should be 
strongly affected by it, and that a clamorous demand 
should be heard for the admission of our negro popula- 
tion to equal rights with the white citizens. But is the 
proposal wise and just ? The experiments of France 
and England have demonstrated that the impulse in 
favor of liberty may be unwisely directed. In some 
states of our Union, where the slave population has 
been small, the experiment of emancipation has been 
tried, and the effects have not been such as to prove 
that universal emancipation is desirable. 

The general principle to be observed in the formation 
of civil society, is, not to abridge the natural rights of 
any unnecessarily. This principle secures to every one 
the highest freedom which he can reasonably claim ; 
and a wise and just statesmanship, acting on this prin- 



SLAVERY. 363 

ciple, will not impose on the African race a heavier 
bondage than necessity requires ; and will not release 
them from this bondage, to their own injury and the 
injury of the white population. 

II. Society is bound to provide that those whom it 
holds in bondage shall be treated with justice. 

Persons who are held in bondage, though their natu- 
ral rights are abridged, have still rights remaining. 
These it is the duty of society to define and protect. 
They are less in extent than those of freemen, but they 
are not less sacred. The masters under whose authority 
and care they are placed, should be required by law to 
respect their rights, and made liable to punishment for 
every act of injustice and oppression. 

Civil society is not organized to dispense benevo- 
lence, or enforce the duties of benevolence. In every 
country, philanthropy finds opportunity to relieve the 
suffering, supply the needy, and elevate the degraded 
and dependent portions of our race ; but these services 
to humanity it is not the prerogative of civil authority 
to compel. But much may be done to meliorate the 
condition of slaves, by establishing such relations be- 
tween them and the opulent citizens of the country, as 
render it the interest of the latter to protect and sus- 
tain them. This is done in the system of domestic 
slavery, which makes the interests of the master and 
of the slave to a great extent identical. Hence, fewer 
laws to guard against oppression are necessary. So 
strong are the inducements to justice and kindness, that 
the Mosaic law authorized a presumption that the pecu- 
niary interest of the master would prevent him from 
inflicting designed injury on his slave. 1 

1 Ex. xxi. 21. 



364 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

If the laws of the state did not render the life of the 
slave sacred, and provide that he should be treated with 
kindness, and receive a maintenance, in health and in 
sickness, in maturity of years, and also in the helpless- 
ness of infancy, and the decrepitude of age ; his rights 
in all these particulars might be inferred from the rela- 
tion which he sustains. An enlightened Christian com- 
munity has placed him, as a perpetual minor, under the 
guardianship of his master. His relation, properly 
viewed, is a modification of that which appertains to an 
apprentice, or a son ; and his rights, and the master's 
obligations, accord with this view of the relation. 

The master is not bound to render to the slave the 
whole proceeds of his labor. This would be to render 
more than "is equal." The master of apprentices is 
entitled to receive profit from their labor ; and, in every 
department of industry, intelligence and capital are 
entitled to remuneration. If the employer of day- 
laborers received no profit from their services, they 
would be turned out of employment. The master of 
slaves is entitled to a higher per centage of profit on 
their labor, because of the capital invested in their pur- 
chase, and the obligation to give perpetual maintenance. 
The conscientious master will be satisfied with this ; 
and will not seek to make greater profit by undue exac- 
tion of labor, or undue parsimony in supplying the 
necessaries and comforts of life. 

The obligation to provide for the slave, is not limited 
to his animal wants. He is a moral and immortal 
being ; and the dependence in which he is placed, ren- 
ders it an imperious and indispensable duty of the 
master, to give him opportunity, encouragement, and 
instruction necessary to secure his eternal happiness. 



ABOLITIONISM. 365 

SECTION VI. ABOLITIONISM.* 

Aim and Tendency. 

In the northern parts of the United States, a strong 
desire prevails to abolish negro slavery throughout the 
Union. It is regarded as a disgrace to the country, 
and a deplorable political, social, and moral evil. From 
the pulpit, denunciations of it are frequent and loud ; 
and numerous publications issue from the press, dis- 
cussing the moral principles involved, and exciting the 
indignation of the people against the institution. So 
decided is the opposition, and so strong are the feelings 
which it has engendered, that religious denominations 
have divided on the question ; and men who were 
accustomed, in former years, to labor together for the 
spread of Christianity, cannot now co-operate in the 
sacred cause. Political men also have engaged in the 
controversy ; the halls of legislation are distracted with 
its strife ; and the dissensions which it has produced, 
threaten the disorganization of our civil government. For 
many years after the adoption of our Federal Constitu- 
tion, the fraternal bonds, which united the people of the 
great Confederacy, were strong ; and the religious sym- 
pathy, which extended from the northern to the south- 
ern boundary, was undisturbed. Slavery existed, but 
unattended with the discord which now menaces the 
ruin of the country. The reform which is attempted 
shakes the foundations of the republic ; and every lover 
of his country ought to examine well the aims and ten- 
dencies of the reformation. 

Though slavery is the prominent subject of discus- 
sion, it is not the only evil which the reformers desire 
to abolish, and which their principles require them to 



* See the note on pp. 373, 374. 
31* 



366 POWERS OP CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

oppose. Some of them have openly inscribed on their 
banner, " Opposition to Capital Punishment, War, and 
Slavery." Others have excepted capital punishment, 
and have confined their opposition to the other two. 
None have openly advocated the abolition of all impri- 
sonment ; but the fervid orator has sometimes vaguely 
expressed a desire to proclaim liberty through the land ; 
and the inconsiderate multitude have applauded, with- 
out inquiring whether, in the grand jubilee, the prison- 
doors are to be thrown open, and the incarcerated felons 
disgorged upon the community. The words mean this, 
if taken in their full sense ; and the principles advo- 
cated require it ; but it is not probable that the orator 
or his applauding audience contemplate such a result. 

The effects of the agitations which the slavery ques- 
tion has produced, are chiefly to be dreaded, because 
of the moral principle involved. Were it merely a 
question of interest, good men, in view of the dangers 
which it threatens, would lift up their voice with one 
accord, and require it to be settled by compromise. But 
conscience admits no compromise. The very virtue of 
the people, which is the foundation of hope for the 
stability of our free institutions, opposes all compro- 
mise of moral principles. What is right must be done, 
at whatever risk, and whatever sacrifice. On this 
account, it is exceedingly important to turn away from 
all tumult, noise, and passion ; and investigate with 
calmness and thoroughness the moral question, by the 
right decision of which good men may unite their influ- 
ence to the preservation of our national peace and 
prosperity. Such calm and thorough investigation may 
be justly demanded of every author who attempts to 
instruct the rising generation in moral science. 

The very popular work of Dr. Wayland on Moral 
Science teaches that war and slavery are both unlawful. 
Concerning the former he says : " Hence, it would 



ABOLITIONISM. 367 

seem that all wars are contrary to the revealed will of 
God, and that the individual has no right to commit to 
society, nor society to commit to government, the power 
to declare war. Such, I must confess, seems to me to 
be the will of our Creator ; and hence that to all argu- 
ments brought in favor of war, it would be a sufficient 
answer, that God has forbidden it, and that no conse- 
quences can possibly be conceived to arise from keep- 
ing his law so terrible as those which must arise from 
violating it." l 

In the " Comprehensive Commentary," a valuable 
exposition of the Holy Scriptures, the editor, referring 
to the chapter from which the preceding extract is 
taken, says, " See chapter on Benevolence to the In- 
jurious in « Wayland's Moral Science,' perhaps the 
only system of ethics whose author has dared to carry 
out the principles of Christ." 2 

It is clear, therefore, that the new ethics of this 
writer will have another reformation to accomplish after 
slavery has been abolished ; and another question of 
uncompromising conscience to press on the attention 
of the American people. Thus far it has not suited 
the purpose of political aspirants to agitate this ques- 
tion, and the pulpit has been almost silent respecting 
it. But if war is unlawful, the Federal Constitution, 
which invests Congress with the power of declaring 
war, sanctions enormous iniquity, and ought not to 
bind the consciences of virtuous citizens. In defiance 
of its authority, and of all human law, every good man 
is bound to abstain from bearing arms. Considerations 
may be urged on the thoughtless multitude exciting 
opposition to those state governments which establish 
slavery ; but, so far as these considerations involve 

1 Moral Science, p. 390. 2 Note on Romans, xii. 20. 



368 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

moral principle, it may be shown that the same system 
of ethics will justify opposition to the Federal Govern- 
ment in the exercise of the war -making power, in which 
its whole strength essentially consists. 

Dr. Wayland maintains the lawfulness of imprison- 
ment and capital punishment, but he considers the latter 
indefensible by the teachings of natural law, and rests 
the defence of it on the words of Scripture, " Whoso 
sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." 
We admit the validity of this defence of capital punish- 
ment from the Sacred Scriptures, though, in our judg- 
ment, less clear than that which they furnish for the 
lawfulness of war and slavery. But it appears that, if 
this single text were not found in the Bible, all reason- 
ings from general principles of morals would leave 
capital punishment as much unsustained as war and 
slavery. Indeed it is difficult to discover the justness 
of any ethical reasoning which allows the use of the 
sword against offending citizens, but forbids its use 
against invading foreigners. That system of ethics 
which denies that civil society can change the relations 
subsisting between men, or justify any act which does 
harm to an individual, may, on the question of capital 
punishment, find itself in collision with the Scriptures ; 
but if consistently developed, it will reject capital 
punishment and imprisonment, leave civil government 
powerless, and dissolve all civil society. Such is the 
necessary tendency of abolitionism. 

Benevolent Aspect. 

Abolitionism obtains advocates by an appearance 
of benevolence. Ambitious men could not use it for 
selfish and party purposes if it possessed nothing to 
recommend it to the masses of the people ; and it is 
undeniable that many advocate it who are actuated by 



ABOLITIONISM. 369 

no selfish motives, and suppose that they are advancing 
the interests of pure morality and the general welfare 
of mankind. They wish to relieve the oppressed and 
suffering, and the condition of slaves has been pressed 
on their attention as a case demanding sympathy and 
aid. They would gladly overthrow all tyrannical gov- 
ernments, and spread the blessings of republicanism 
and civil liberty throughout the earth; but,- as they 
cannot break the yoke of bondage from the necks of 
the oppressed in the other quarters of the globe, their 
sympathies fix on American slavery, and they labor for 
its extirpation with a full belief that they are doing God 
service. 

The most zealous advocate of slavery ought to admit 
that it is attended with many evils. It is as little to 
be desired, for its own sake, as imprisonment, capital 
punishment, or war ; and, like these, is to be chosen 
only as the less of two evils. The cruelties and oppres- 
sions attributed to it have been exaggerated ; but it is, 
nevertheless, as true that some slaves have cruel masters 
as that some wives have brutal husbands. And, though 
women may desire the matrimonial yoke, even at the 
risk of being oppressed, few men desire the yoke of 
slavery. When the alternative of slavery or death has 
been proposed, heroic minds have often chosen the 
latter. Sometimes, among the ancient Hebrews, the 
servant who might lawfully claim freedom said, " I 
love my master ; I will not go out free;" 1 and simi- 
lar cases occur among African slaves. But the gene- 
ral choice is of freedom ; and this choice Paul seems 
to have approved, at least for Christian men, to 
whom he says : " If thou mayest be made free, use it 
rather." Now, since the condition of slaves is unde- 

1 Ex. xxi. 5. 



370 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

sirable, and attended with many evils, is it not benevo- 
lent to desire and seek the abolition of slavery? 

Other objects equally claim the efforts of the benevo- 
lent. War is a dreadful evil. The glare of military 
glory may conceal its horrors ; but, if stripped of this, 
and viewed in its nakedness, the spectacle is appalling. 
The field of battle, where hostile thousands meet in 
deadly strife — the wholesale butchery of human beings 
by human hands — the sufferings of the wounded which 
cannot be relieved or pitied — the groans and shrill out- 
cries which cannot be heeded — and, mingling with these 
in dire confusion, the shouts of the combatants and the 
noise of their arms, as they rush onward to complete 
the bloody work — who that has human feeling in his 
heart does not sicken at the contemplation ? And this 
is not all. The contending nations are filled with 
widows and orphans ; trade, agriculture, and all the 
peaceful arts, fall into neglect ; the resources are ex- 
hausted, which are needed, not only for national pros- 
perity, but for the sustenance of the people ; and virtue 
and religion give place to warlike passions and deeds 
of violence. Is it not benevolent to desire the abolition 
of war ? 

Capital punishment has its horrors. The multitudes 
who have been put to death by unjust and tyrannical 
governments, have seldom had their names recorded on 
the pages of history; but where heathenism and despot- 
ism prevail, the sword of the ruler has been drunk with 
blood. Imprisonment also has its horrors. The phi- 
lanthropic Howard visited the prisons of Europe, and 
found in them depths of misery which had never been 
explored by Christian benevolence ; and what imprison- 
ment is in heathen lands may be learned from the life 
of Judson, the pioneer missionary of Burmah. Now, 
what benevolent man does not grieve over the sufferings 



I 



ABOLITIONISM. 371 

which capital punishment and imprisonment have mul- 
tiplied in the earth ? Who does not rejoice in the 
prospect of a happy, glorious day, in which the gallows 
and the prison shall be unknown ? 

The gospel tends in its effects to abolish imprison- 
ment, capital punishment, war, and involuntary servi- 
tude. We know, from express prophecy, that wars 
will cease, and, when the people are all righteous, im- 
prisonment and capital punishment, and with them all 
the coercions and restraints of civil government, will 
be useless. It is not so clear that all servitude will 
cease. The decalogue, designed by infinite wisdom to 
be of perpetual obligation, prescribes duties to servants ; 
and, for aught that appears, the relation of servant, 
like that of child, may continue after iniquity and op- 
pression have been banished from human society. But 
the servitude will not be involuntary. Even now, the 
gospel requires slaves to obey their masters, "with 
good-will doing service ;" * and when masters and ser- 
vants are all righteous, this- command will be univer- 
sally obeyed. When all service is rendered with good- 
will, involuntary servitude will be unknown. Now, if 
the gospel tends, by its effects, to abolish imprison- 
ment, capital punishment, war, and involuntary servi- 
tude, does it not follow that the abolition of all these 
accords with the benevolence of Christianity? 

Mistake. 

The mistake of abolitionists is, that they seek the 
benefits of enlightened virtue, without its presence and 
use. The gospel tends to abolish imprisonment, capital 
punishment, war, and involuntary servitude, by making 
all men righteous, and rendering these restraints of 

1 Eph. vi. 7. 



372 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

civil government unnecessary ; but abolitionism seeks 
to remove the restraints, while the necessity for them 
still exists. It acts as one would, who, unwilling to 
see his sick friend, confined to bed, and dosed with 
nauseous drugs, commands him to reject the drugs, and 
rise up and walk. The gospel, by its pure morality, 
and its support of civil government, has effected much 
in healing the disorders of human society; but the cure 
is not completed ; and it cannot be completed, without 
the use of the proper means. Abolitionism may com- 
mand the patient to rise and walk ; and may, by its 
unwise treatment of the case, aggravate the disease. 
The wisdom from above, directs to seek the end by 
the proper means. 

The mistake of abolitionism is not one of trivial 
moment. The benevolence of its aspect, is the mild 
and gentle light of a taper, which, by being misapplied, 
produces explosion and ruin. If we would compute 
its destructive force, we must weigh all the interests 
which it shakes to their foundation, and threatens to 
destroy. Since the origin of our Federal Government, 
nothing has so much endangered its stability, as the 
slavery agitation. In this western continent, Provi- 
dence seemed to have prepared for liberty, banished 
from the old world, a home, a permanent home, we had 
fondly hoped. Here, in the wilderness, the persecuted 
disciples of Christ found freedom to worship God. 
Here, the unfettered mind asserted its claim to liberty ; 
and, under the reign of liberty, arts, sciences, and re- 
ligion flourished. Love and mutual confidence bound 
the states of the Union in a happy confederacy ; pros- 
perity abounded ; patriotism exulted ; and the philan- 
thropist saw, or thought he saw, that God was here 
teaching the world how to be good and happy. But 
the patriot and the philanthropist have been made to 



ABOLITIONISM. 373 

tremble. A fearful earthquake has shaken the ground 
beneath them, and they behold, with dismay, the pil- 
lars of this beautiful Union tottering ; and the beautiful 
fabric, the pride of their hearts and the hope of the 
world, falling into ruins. They have turned away their 
eyes, and have prayed that God may never permit 
them to see these states discordant and belligerent, 
which have been so happily united in a fraternity of 
peace and love. What has wrought this change ? It 
is the slavery agitation. It is not slavery itself; for 
that existed at the origin of the confederacy, and con- 
tinued to exist during the peaceful and prosperous 
times which followed. But new sentiments have arisen, 
which have disturbed the quiet of the nation ; and for 
these, with all their consequences, the abolitionists are 
responsible. A fearful responsibility! If duty to 
God requires the ruin of our country, let our country 
fall, and the hopes of mankind perish. But if aboli- 
tionism* is fanaticism, undermining the foundations of 

* Since many of our northern fellow-citizens consider it oppro- 
brious to be styled Abolitionists, I desire to say that I have no- 
where employed the terms abolitionism and abolitionists for the 
sake of reproach, or designed to apply them to any to whom they 
are unwelcome or to whom they do not properly belong. Were 
it the aim of abolitionists merely to lessen the evils attendant on 
war and slavery, or to remove the causes which render war and 
slavery necessary, their design would be benevolent, and their 
efforts, if wisely directed, might accomplish good. To abolition- 
ism thus restricted, no opprobrium could be justly due. Many 
persons, I doubt not, have connected themselves with Peace soci- 
eties, who have not the remotest idea of denying the right of civil 
government to wage necessary war, or the obligation of citizens 
to sustain their government by the performance of military duty. 
It would be gross injustice to charge these persons with any ill 
design against order and good government. In like manner many 
have participated in the anti-slavery movement, whose sense of 
32 



374 POWERS OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

government, and opposing the will of Heaven, may- 
God, in his mercy, deliver us from its power. 

moral obligation would not permit them to disturb the social order 
of the Southern States, or to oppose those regulations of civil 
government which establish and protect slavery. It would be 
injustice to such peaceful and well-meaning persons, to charge 
them with anarchical abolitionism. It would be still more mani- 
festly unjust, to fix the odium of abolitionism on those who have 
taken no part in the anti-slavery movement. 



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